Happy Valentine's Day!

We have had a great Valentine's Day today! Usually our tradition on Valentine's morning is that we make heart shaped waffles in our special waffle iron, and put strawberries and whipped cream on it. However, this morning was our turn to help clean the church (along with another family in our ward). Our turn comes around about every six months or so, and the tradition we have had with that is that we go get donuts and milk, and take them over to eat at the church before we clean. So we compromised and got Valentine's sprinkled donuts. Kalyssa was not very pleased that we were having to skip the waffles - she's all about the keeping the traditions! We also love to make heart shaped sugar cookies and frost/decorate them. Another thing that we do is that we go get a heart shaped pizza for dinner, and decorate up the table with red, white, and pink. The kids had a little plastic heart full of M&M's at each of their places at the table, and they loved that! Then we went around the table and took turns telling why we loved each person. Some of the responses were pretty cute - "I love him because he pours juice for me so I won't spill", "Because he shares his toys with me", "Because his hair sticks straight up"... ☺

I thought I would take a minute and talk about each of my seven special Valentines. Of course, first and foremost, is my sweetheart and hubby extraordinaire - David. He is such a great guy, and I feel so lucky that he is mine! He is an extremely hard worker, and that has been something that I have always admired about him. He inspires me to always do better, and has always been so encouraging and supportive of me in my goals and the things that I want to do. He can make me laugh so hard sometimes, and we get giggling (sometimes it's hard to stop - I get a little punchy!) ☺ He is my very best friend, but I also still have such a big crush on him, even after almost 15 years of being married! I definitely feel blessed to have found him. Of course, everything doesn't just always come easy all the time... we, like everyone else, put a lot of time and effort into keeping each other as our first priority, making sure we have our date nights every week, etc. But, I'm so glad that he's my Valentine!!!

Kaden is such a great kid - I still can hardly believe I'm old enough to have a teenager! He does such a great job - works hard on his schoolwork, watches the kids for us, enjoys Scouts (he's working on his Eagle), and is such a kindhearted guy! I'm so glad to have him as my son! I love you, Kade!


Kalyssa is my sweet girl, and I love her so much also. She is an awesome sister to her brothers, and does so much for them, especially the little ones. She loves to have "girls' time" with me (no boys allowed!) ☺ She loves to cook, organize, and decorate - a girl after my own heart!




Karson is a sweet, tenderhearted guy that is very smart! He loves Cub Scouts, basketball, video games, Legos, and lots of other stuff! He loves to learn, and is always telling us some obscure facts that he has learned at school, whether its Greek mythology, the different types of clouds in the sky, or even how cavities are formed on teeth! He is very kind to his little brothers, and is pretty patient when they always want to be with him, and get into his stuff. I am so glad that I have him - he's awesome!


Karter is my busy, loving, and smart 5 year old! He never wants to be outdone by the older kids - he thinks he is right up there with them! He loves to color, do his preschool work, play with friends, and be on the computer. He is very friendly, and has no problem talking to anybody - he makes friends wherever we go! He loves anything "cowboy", and talks big about riding horses & cows - that is, until he is right by them, then he hightails it to the car! ☺ I love him so much!

Koleman is such a cutie! He can be a little "high-maintenance", if you know what I mean, but he has a little heart of gold! He idolizes Karter, and follows him around all day, but he also loves all the rest of his siblings fiercely too! He has several little make-believe friends that he talks a lot about, the main one being a guy named "Hot Cocoa". We hear about him so frequently that Daddy now has a make-believe friend of his own that he tells Koley about called "Tweedledinker". ☺ (The kids all think that it's hilarious!) We sure are glad to have Koleman in our family, and love him so much!

Kyler is a little doll, and we all adore him! He is saying lots of things now, and its very cute! He bows his head and folds his arms for the prayers, and then even finishes with an amen! He loves all kinds of animals, and making all of their sounds! He enjoys being read little books, watching cartoon shows about animals, being outside, playing with toys, getting into everyone else's stuff, making messes, and giving big kisses and hugs! He also loves going to the nursery at church (where Daddy is one of his teachers now), and plays with the toys. We love him!

I am so lucky and blessed to have all of my special Valentines - aren't they great?