Vacation

I need a tropical vacation! These occasional visits from the sun just aren't enough for me. It's still cold. I want heat, the warmth of the sun when it visits for a long time and I can feel the heat on my bare feet from the scorching hot sidewalk. I want to wear shorts and hang out on the beach, laying on the warm sand and then washing it off in the waves that lazily slip onto the shore. I want to hear the birds (although I don't care to see them too closely) flying high overhead and swat at annoying flies. I really want to get away, but since I can't right now I'm going to enjoy the background of my blog and pretend I'm sipping an ice cold DC and just lazying my day away while my space heater blows warmth on my bare feet, and then, when I open my eyes I hope reality won't bite me in the butt too hard! Happy day!

Happy Valentines!

Some friends and family have posted their favorite Valentine memory. I thought I'd join in the fun and would love to hear about yours too!

Valentines Day, almost 19 years ago, there was this handsome young boy and this pretty cute young girl who had been dating for several years. They were very young, seniors in high school and only 17 but they were madly in love. As this handsome young boy drove the pretty cute young girl to school the pretty cute young girl was freaking out because she hated being late and it was almost time for school to start. The handsome young boy was very laid back, taking his time he found the perfect parking place because he drove a really nice car and didn't want any door dings. He finally stopped the car and the pretty cute girl was grabbing her bag and saying hurry up when she looked at the handsome young boy. He was holding a card and she melted. She sat back in the car and took the card and read the most lovely words she had ever seen or heard, with tears in her eyes she read the last line "Will you be my Valentine forever?" When the pretty cute girl turned back to look at the handsome young boy he was holding a beautifully decorated sugar cookie with a sparkling engagement ring set in a pretty red frosting flower. The handsome young boy told the pretty cute girl how much he truly loved her and couldn't live his life without her and then asked her to be his wife. Happily, with tears of joy running down her face, she said yes. Then they kissed, and ran into first period as fast as they could because at this point they were very very late.

Of course they lived happily ever after, working very hard every day to have a wonderul, loving marriage and building a foundation for their beautiful family and little girls (who are now getting to be very big girls!)

Darrell will never read this post, he doesn't really like facebooking or blogs, but I sure hope he knows how much I love him and I hope I make him as happy as he makes me! Happy Valentines Day!!

Panther of the Quarter

Darrell and I are proud as can be! First Shawna was Panther of the Month, and now Annie is Panther of the Quarter! We have such great kids! We are so proud of you guys!

No school...

Since the girls and boys had a couple days out of school we got together with Bryan and Becky and took our kids to the aquarium and oh what fun!

Duncan watching the fish

Lauren, not excited about touching the sting ray,
But the other kids were all for it!

Shawna and Brock posing by the fish
Bryan showing Mya "Nemo"

Riding the frog...

Lauren in awe at the fish and frogs

After the aquarium we went to the mall food court for lunch

and a ride on the carousel before heading home

for some naptime! (at least I think

Bryan and the girls got naps, we on the other hand

went to my house and played Super Mario WII for the next

several hours!)

WHAT A FUN DAY! I'm so thankful that I have siblings and nieces and nephews

that I want to spend time with! I LOVE IT!

AND FYI... If you're looking for a great membership I recommend the aquarium, you only have to go twice to pay for it. Adults is $18 and children $14 for the year (while it's $9 and $7 and children are anyone between 3 ant 17!) It's a great deal!

Head Wraps...

I took a Knitted Head Wraps class with my friend Kristen, they're the wraps you see everyone wearing now with the cute little knitted flowers on them. She's going to be making and selling them (her prices are great!) so if anyone is interested let me know! The flowers are detachable so you can have many flowers and move them amongst your different bands, also they're on barretts so you can put the flower in your hair w/o the band. They can be special ordered in any color and only take a few days to complete!

Here are her prices:

*Headbands and flowers are sold seperately.

Headbands

1 for $15

2 for $25

Flowers

1 for $4

2 for $7

3 for $9

*Flowers can be any combination of colors and knitted or crocheted

She's working on a child's headband right now...

Pictures and prices are soon to come on those!

Sunday dinner at Moms...

Sunday dinner at Moms means...

*lots of noise
*lots of yummy yummy food
*lots of great conversation
*lots of kiddies
*lots of hugs
*lots of kisses
*lots of tissues for runny noses
*lots of screaming and yelling
*some hurt feelings and then some making up
*spending lots of time with my favorite people!
*and finally yummy yummy dessert (tonight thanks to Annie and Jessica Olsens yummy Carmelita recipe! Thanks for sharing Jess! We LOVE them!)
*Goodbyes

Darrell's Christmas Surprise!

This is what had me so darn excited for Christmas this year! This man is so hard to buy for and even harder to surprise!

The whole time Darrell was opening his present he thought it was pictures of the girls

He was soooo sure this was a picture of the girls he took forever holding it like this talking about it before he finally took a peek! It was driving me nuts! I just wanted so badly for him to see what surprise we had planned for him! This is a picture of Darrell's Gramps during his service. My good friend Brett Taylor was so kind to frame these pics, the flag from Gramps funeral and a Doille Darrell's Aunt LaRae made for us year ago. Darrell was so surprised and excited! Thanks so much Brett! You did an awesome job and I love the way it all turned out!

on a side note, if anyone needs framing let me know! I'm happy to give you Brett's phone number, he does beautiful work and he's very reasonablly priced too!