Stephanie and Jaden

Justin's sister and her boy Jaden came to visit us and go on a little church history tour. They flew in on Thursday and when we woke up on Friday to get ready to drive to Palmyra, this is what we woke up to! We got 10-12 inches of snow so we decided to wait until Saturday. The snow was really wet and stuck to all of the branches. It was so pretty.

After the roads were cleared, we drove out to Kirtland. I love the temple with all the snow around it.

Saturday we headed to Palmyra, NY. The roads were completely clear so we were really glad we waited to leave. Our first stop after arriving was the Hill Cumorah.

Jack was LOVING having Jaden around. He could not wait for him to get here. He followed him around the whole time and Jaden was so good to him. He played with him and entertained him the entire time they were here. I am thinking I need Jaden to be around us more often so that I can have a little built in babysitter! He was so awesome....thanks Jaden!!

Woooaaaahhh!!! Don't fall!!!

(haha....they are geeks!)

That night we went swimming at our hotel. Anderson was really scared at first, but as you can see, he got over it fast and was having a blast. They boys were having fun playing with some new water toys that Steph and Jaden brought them. They spoiled them rotten while they were here! Every day they had something new for Jack and Anderson and they were in heaven! I think Stephanie is going for auntie of the year. :)

It was quite chilly while we were in Palmyra. I'm so glad I thought to bring Anderson's hat to help him stay warm through all the site seeing. He was a champ though. The boys did pretty well, even in the cold weather.

It was raining a little and pretty windy when we went to the sacred grove. But while we were in there, it was so calm and peaceful. It is so quiet and even though there were no leaves on the trees and we were cold, it is always amazing to be in such a sacred place.

Jack kept running up to stuff and saying, "Mom, take a picture of me in front of this!" We've come a long ways from him yelling at me every time we wanted to take his picture. :)

This is in front of the Smith frame home that Alvin Smith started building for his parents. The sister missionary that gave us the tour said they think that they planted this tree next to the house in memory of Alvin when he died.

After making it back to Cleveland, we hit up the John Johnson farm. This is one of my most favorite church history sites and I will be so sad when we move so far away from it.

The boys figured they better take advantage of the snow before it melted.

After the Johnson farm, we hit up Trader Joe's so Stephanie could stock up, and then ate at one of our most favorite restaurants in Cleveland, the B Spot. Yummy!! Now that is one place I will miss. Even thinking about it is making me want to eat their pulled pork sandwich.

After we ate, we came home and celebrated Jaden's 11th birthday!! Him and Jack decorated the cupcakes and after the little boys went to bed, we stayed up way too late and played games.

I am so glad that Stephanie and Jaden came out here!! We were so spoiled to have Stephanie away from her house and her busy life. We just got to relax, eat yummy food, talk and talk and talk, and play games. It is hard to be so far away from family and these little visits mean a lot. Jack was so sad when he woke up and they had left early to go to the airport. Luckily, we will be seeing them this summer!! Yay!

Thanks guys!

The Incredibles

Those of you who like the movie The Incredibles will appreciate this!

Today I picked Jack up from school and this was part of our conversation on the way home:

Jack: "Dad, I am sorry that I got in trouble at school today."

Me: "Thanks for telling me that you are sorry for getting in trouble, that was nice of you."

Jack: "Yeah dad, I am really sorry."

Me: "What did you do that got you in trouble?"

Jack: "I don't know."

Me: "You don't know?"

Jack: "I don't know, something amazing I guess!"

The inflection in his voice was spot on with the little boy's voice from the movie! I was laughing pretty hard.

I am off for Spring break this week and it has been so fun to be around him all day. He is always making me laugh. I am always amazed at the things he says and how smart he is getting. He is definitely growing up fast.

The Crazies

Justin and I have come to the realization that we have pretty crazy kids. Jack is all over the place and Anderson is LOUD. But they are our kids, and we sure do love them. They are so cute that it would be hard not to love them. They have their ups and downs but overall, they are great.

One of Anderson's downfalls is his eating habits. Anderson is a terrible eater, and dinner is his worst meal. He rarely eats what we put in front of him. I always put a plate of the meal we are all eating on his tray and probably 7 times out of 10, we have to give him something else, just so we know he is actually eating. One night we had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (fancy, I know!) and he devoured it. It really was a miracle. If he actually starts eating what we first give him, Justin and I try not to breath too hard or look at him, out of fear that he will realize that he is eating something beyond his usual foods. Obviously tomato soup is extremely messy to be giving a one year old, but if some of it was going in his mouth, I was happy to let him make the mess!!

Our sassy little Jack had Crazy Clothes Day at school in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. When I first brought down his clothes for that day, he did not like the idea. Jack likes everything to be in order. He likes his gloves to be on just right, his shirt sleeves to be pulled through his coat just right, his food has to be the right temperature, his pants to be tucked inside his boots just the right way, etc, etc. You get the idea. He is super picky about certain things, and if something goes wrong or is out of the ordinary, it is dramatic. So when I told him that he would be wearing pajama pants with shorts over top to school, the idea didn't sit very well with him. It took a lot of convincing. I reassured him that all of his friends at school would be wearing crazy clothes and that it would be fun. He thought about it for a while and decided he could wear it.

Anderson did not want to be left out and ran to get his frog boots as fast as his little legs would carry him.

We are CRAZY!!!

Crazy Clothes Day was followed by Crazy Hair Day, which again, I did against Jack's will. But once he got to school and saw everyone with their wacky hair, he thought it was pretty fun.

Valentine's/B-day

We had a great Valentine's Day, and of course...my birthday! I am now 27 and not too sure how I feel about it. The upper 20's is a little too close to 30 for my taste, but hopefully it will be a good year for me and will last a long time so I don't have to get to 28 any time soon! :)

Justin started our day off by making a pink breakfast, which the kids loved.

The boys came down to find some little treasures for them at the table. Jack was loving the new sunglasses!

Anderson was soaking up the fun too.

I went to Jack's Valentine's Day party at school. He loves when the parents get to come for their parties. They had a chocolate fountain for the kids to dip their treats in, which was a big hit.

Jack gave me this bag that he had decorated and inside was this little treasure box. Complete with candy hearts inside the lid. He was very proud of his work.

Justin came home a little early that day and we went to see Tangled at the theater. We were the only people in the theater which was a good thing because Anderson didn't sit like that the whole time. He did pretty good for his first time going, but we were definitely relieved to see he wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was such a cute movie! We all really liked it.

Then we came home and had a pizza party with heart shaped bread sticks and a cake that Justin and Jack made me. It was fun to spend so much time together as a family. Jack is so great with holidays and traditions and I LOVE to see my kids having so much fun.

Here's hoping that 28 doesn't come as fast as 27 did!!