It's a clean, clean world out there...

at least in our bathrooms! I'm definately not the cleanest person out there, but I totally woke up this morning with a "yen" to clean bathrooms. Crazy, I know... but it needed to be done! We have 3 1/2 bathrooms split between three floors, so there is lots of running around to be done. And as I'm cleaning the kids' bathtub, the drain gets plugged, so I call in my handyman, D, to figure it out. After many tools and time, he discovers that it's full of toilet paper and silly string. Of course, whose bathtub drain isn't full of toilet paper and silly string? Exactly where I think these things belong... don't you? So here's to clean bathrooms. At least something is clean in my house right now... right? Counts for something.

Happy Family Home Evening.

Last night, as we're just hanging out, we hear car doors slamming and D is like, "are you expecting anyone?" And I said, "no", but looked out the window and then said, "but there are a lot of people here." We go downstairs, and there's our friends, the Knights, with cookies, yelling "Happy Family Home Evening"!!! See... they totally follow my theory about made up holidays! Thanks Knights for thinking of us and bringing us cookies!!! They were super yummy and have all been eaten... even the "salty" peanut butter ones!!!

And our Forever Young...

Here's me and D looking "oh so young". We had a great time dancing the night away!

Birthday shout-out.

Carol, Poppy, Cheryl and I the morning of my wedding... long, long ago.

Just wanted to send a birthday shout-out to Carol and Cheryl, two of my oldest and dearest friends. I love you both, miss you terribly, and hope that you both had great birthdays!

Forever Young.

The theme of the prom - Forever Young.

John and Paula dancing with Susie and Bob. And let me tell you, Paula's dress is very similar to the one that she wore at her actual prom - I saw the picture!

Carrie and Scott, our Prom Queen and King. Don't they look radiant in their prom outfits?Scott at our house before the party. He had to go on a scavenger hunt, and our house was stop #2 where he got his shoes. Lucky him!

Our friend Scott turned 40 the other day. As a tribute to him, his wife decided to throw a surprise prom for him (I was on the prom committee, of course!). Come dressed in any prom attire you want, but of course 80's is always the best. (This is the same wife, Carrie, who had a surprise 80's themed roller skating party a few months back for her 40th birthday - see the theme here?). It was a lot of fun! Lots of friends, dressed really silly, lots of cookies and punch in a totally cheesy punch bowl, prom pictures, yearbooks, and even our old prom pictures - there were quite a few of Mike and I on display... and Derrick couldn't find his prom picture with Stephanie. Sorry D. And of course lots of dancing to lovely 80's music! It was great!!!

Fun and games.

Friend Emma with Luke, Reed and Macy playing Life.

Our house is always full of fun and games. I love it, when they are all playing together nicely, no one is "cheating" or being accused of it, and they are all just happy.

Our hearts are a bit heavy right now.

So, with all those posts, I left this one for last so it would be at the top of my blog right now. We are saddened with the recents deaths of two people that have affected our lives.

The first is Rose Flanagan, someone we knew from Video Symphony. Her son owns the company, and she's always been a part of it. She brought the bagels, the snacks, the food. Took care of all of the students. Made sure they were fed and happy. She also bickered with you, bartered with you and always had an opinion and a smiling face to share. Rose passed away the other day at the tender age of 78, and she will be greatly missed.


The second is a friend of ours from Southern California, Aaron Braden. He was in a car accident last week while driving his motorcycle on the 210. He was killed instantly. Unlike Rose, he was a young guy, in the prime of his life. He married Shannon a few years ago, and they were just in their beginning. They recently bought a new home, and were just starting out. We were very surprised and sad to hear of Aaron's passing, and are keeping Shannon and their families in our prayers.

Our thoughts and prayers are going out right now to both the Flanagan the Braden families. We love you and want you to know that both Rose and Aaron touched us and will forever hold spots in our hearts.

Isn't it about time to work on those New Year's resolutions.

My friend, Liz, made a New Year's Resolution to walk/run everyday (except on the 15th and the 30th - those are the break days). This was supposed to be a resolution for both of us, because we're in "training" for our race this summer. She's been really good about it. She started at 3-4 miles a day, and then in February went up to 5 miles a day. In rain, snow, whatever. Me? Never. Too cold, too dark, too tired, too lazy. I'd much rather stay in bed. So, I was talking to some other friends the other day and they told me that they get together at 6:00am every morning to go walking. They walk slow because Paula has some owies, but they still walk. I said, "sign me up". I will make the effort to get up early, in the dark and cold, and be ready. Here I am, 6:00am, teeth brushed, shoes on, Cooper's ready, and the phone rings. They're not going. Now what? My shoes are already on, and Cooper is REALLY excited! Gotta go. Can't waste the shoes being on. So, Cooper and I head out in the cold dark and walk about three miles. Not great, but not too bad for a start. So, resolutions a little bit late, but who ever said you needed to start on January 1st? And my shoes were really excited to be out too!

Outdoor play.

One of the problems of our house is that we don't have a fenced in backyard. We have a yard, with lots of greenery, bushes and trees. A trampoline and places to play. But no fence. There is a creek off to the right of our house, and we are only protected by trees. So, needless to say, Reed doesn't get outside too often just to play... but boy, when he does, he sure does love it. I walked a friends' son to the bus stop the other day with Reed and he was just loving running up and down the sidewalk. He doesn't quite get the concept though, because he kept running in the street also. See... here's the problem of never letting him play outside. He doesn't know the rights from the wrongs. So, D headed up the street to our little park with him, Chad and Cooper the other day, and they had a great time!

Cookie Time!

And around all the "Valentine-ness" of the day, we also received and delivered most of our Girl Scout cookies. This is how Macy and I spent Valentine's morning. Sorting and delivering cookies. Hey... a promise was made to have them by Valentine's Day (think - what a great Valentine's gift!), and that promised was delivered... at least to most!

Treats for all.

And of course, there were treats for all before we headed off to our ball. Heart-shaped pizza, chocolate dipped strawberries, cakes and cookies. Yummy foods for all my little Valentines!

Won't You Be Mine?

Valentine's night, our church had a Sweetheart's Dance, and really... it wasn't too bad. There were lots of our friends there, lots of yummy food, and the band wasn't bad - although it did give Derrick the creeps.

The countdown is on!

I LOVE Valentine's Day! I know, there shouldn't be just one day to tell people you love them, why not every day... but I still just love it (and I do tell and get told everyday anyways!)! All the hearts, flowers, candy, Valentine's, love notes. Just makes me happy. Plotting dinner for tomorrow. Heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphys. You can never go wrong with heart-shaped pizza. Chocolate dipped strawberries, and of course the rest of the little cakes that we made. Other stuff too, but those are the main "Valentine"-themed things (for now). Hope that you all have a great Valentine's Day and know that you are loved!!!

To frost... or just to lick? Tough question.

So, you give him a little... and he takes a lot. Making cute little Valentine Heart cakes. We gave Reed a little frosting and some candy to decorate with, and I think it all ended up on his face, in his hair, on his clothes. I don't think any got on his cake... except what I put on there trying to show him what to do.

The Candy (little) Man

Caught red-handed! This is what happens when we put candy or other treats out. He has a nose for them. Must be part bloodhound or something!

Playing school.

Sierra, Macy, Laura, April, Reed & Haley

A typical weekend (or holiday) night for us includes a WHOLE LOT of extra kids at our house. Here are just some of them (I think there were 10 in total), outside our bedroom door (not like we don't have 3 floors to our house or anything. No place better to play, I guess.), playing school. I think maybe it's snack time or something. You can't see Luke, because he was on the other side acting as the principal, and then the bigger boys would come to be PE and other teachers. Very noisy school if you ask me. Was really getting in the way of Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, and the cross-over with Private Practice!

Gung Hai Fa Choi! (pardon the spelling!)

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Boar... I think. Haley's preschool class celebrated Chinese New Year with fortune cookies, some other Chinese snacks (with placemats), some Chinese lettering, and a dragon parade.

Little Monkeys.

Haley and Reed both have footie Monkey pajamas, which I love, and they both happened to be wearing them the other night so Haley asked me to take a picture of them.

Watch out Marylou!

One of the benefits of living in a "small town" is all the fun stuff put on for the kids. Last year, Macy took a cheerleading clinic thru the high school, and then got to perform during halftime at one of the high school games. This year, she took a gymnastics clinic and got to perform at a girls basketball game the other night. Her skills aren't all the way up there, so she was sad to only get to do somersaults and tuck jumps, but she still had a great time!

Whites or Color?

I'm doing the laundry. Have piles all over the place... and here's Haley and Reed, lying on the dirty clothes, eating cookies, just as happy as can be. So easy.

Happy Meet-a-versary!

Derrick is so the right person for me to be married to. He likes to make up holidays, as much as I like to celebrate made up holidays. Yesterday, February 8th, was our 17 year meet-a-versary. This is something that he remembers EVERY year. He's very good about it! I can't even remember what day it is, and he remembers made up holidays. Gotta love it! We went out to dinner on Saturday night and just had a nice time. I'm very thankful for this person who loves me and makes up holidays for me! What a blessing he is to me!

Cooking lessions (from a total non-cooker!)

During Sacrament meeting yesterday, Chad informs me that he has a fireside to go to that night, and oh, by the way, he needs to bring brownies. Lucky for him, brownie mix is typically one of the staples I keep in the house (isn't it in everyones' food storage?), but still... only one box, so he didn't have a lot to take, but he made them, and that's what counts!

I love New York.

Derrick goes to NY/CT for 24 hours, and this is the only picture he takes. Right out of his hotel window. But, he points out to me, that if you look real close, one of the green awnings is the Outback Restaurant where he ate dinner. Good to know, huh? Almost the Statue of Liberty (same color)... but not quite.

Nudity ahead.

So I'm in the middle of getting Reed ready for bed, and Chad, Luke and Macy are getting the garbage out. Reed, being the good helper that he is, had to help, no matter what he was wearing, until he got out the front door and realized that it was only about 35 degrees. A bit cold on his little naked bum.

Superbowl Sunday.

So, unless you REALLY like football, Superbowl is truly about all the commercials and all the snacks (although it was a good game - for the few minutes that I watched it!). We invited some people over, totally last minute, and between us, the Geigenmillers, and Bob and Susie, we had tons of snacks to go around - almost forever, and almost ever chip imaginable - thanks D!