February

This year we decided to buy some cabinets from IKEA for our family room. We assembled them, centered them on the wall, cut out the baseboard behind so they are flush on the wall, and then anchored them together and to the wall. They look so good and I love all the storage we now have!

Neil sent us this picture of him and Kaden with Lexi on her first temple trip. 

The kids loved helping build!

Sean took Brett and Alana Skiing on Valentines day. They had originally planned to go a few weeks before but Alana wasn't feeling very good. Her cough had gotten better but then got worse again and when I took her to the doctor she had some slight rattling in her lungs. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and given an antibiotic. Its such a miracle how fast antibiotics work. I am so grateful for them. Sean and Brett tried to go to Sundance but the parking lot was full and they couldn't get a spot, so they came home sad. So we made the plan for them to go on Valentines day. They had a great time and are all getting braver and faster. 

Lizzie had her cute friend Amy over after school on Valentines. They were so cute reading books in Lizzie's bed. 

I made ham, green beans, and garlic knots for dinner. The ham was gross, but everything else was good. The kids mostly liked the cupcakes and oreo truffles. 

My Valentine! 

I wanted to learn to crochet mostly to help my kids learn. This was my first attempt. Kari Ellis showed me and this little bit took me 1.5 hours. The hardest part for me has been relaxing my hands enough to not have the stitches so so tight. 

Here's attempt two. I am actually a lot better and faster now and Brett figured out how to double crochet. Him and I are both working on baby blankets. 

Alana came to sleep in our bed one morning and Oreo snuggled up to her feet. 

With the new cabinets upstairs we put the old console downstairs and got a bigger nicer TV down there. It was time to take down the alphabet Lizzie and Alana made during homeschool when Liz was in preschool. It was started to fall down, but I wanted to get a picture of how cute it was. Staying up for 4 years is pretty impressive! 

Lizzie left Bear on the couch one day and Oreo snuggled up to him after Liz had gone to school. 

We got some looms as well and Alana made this cool hat! 

Brett's crochet scarf:

Oreo sure knows how to get comfy! 

Lizzie woke up with some nasty pink eye one morning. It seemed to be viral so we didn't do drops, but it felt like it took forever to go away!

Brett made this pen in his TA class with Mr. Ogden. They carved the wooden part for the pen and drilled the hole. He has done so many cool projects with Mr. Ogden!

I would send pics to Sean each morning to get his opinion on if we should get some eyedrops and if we should send her to school. 

My crochet project that I turned into a little blanket for Lizzie's stuffed animals. 

Kiwi has really grown!

Aunt Sam sent Alana the most darling mermaid! 

Here's all the kids with their crocheted mermaids from Aunt Sam!

Brett went ice skating for young mens and they had a great time! 

The Ellis family brought Brett some Lenonade one night. Nick likes to teach Brett and Eli about being communists. Brett drank it down and said it was good =)

We went ice skating with the Baker family. I spent a lot of time helping Lizzie and then I tried to do it too. Alana was so sweet and held my hand! 

Cheri invited us over to play with all her wood cutting machines. We had so much fun cutting and then came back the next night to paint. 

Sean helped the kids get their skates on. 

Each year we write each other love notes each day leading up to Valentines. this year the kids wrote so so many. It was so fun to see all our love displayed on the wall!