Valentine's Day!

 This was the first year we did Valentine's to pass out. Zach's preschool was having a class party where you could bring a valentine for the kids. I remember having to write out so many names every Valentine's Day, and making sure the nose picker didn't get the Valentine that could give ANY hint that you liked him at all. So sad. Justin informed me that they only handed out cards on Valentine's Day. No Candy. What? A card with your name on it? That's it?? Boring. Thanks to pinterest I saw this cute idea and we had to make them. Foam lips or mustache on a sucker stick. They were simple and cute. Zach wrote his name 36 times! He said his hand was tired after that. Anyone need any red or black foam? I have lots left over...

 So when they suck on the sucker it looks like they have a mustache or lips. Cute.

 I also practiced a hairdo on Kate thanks to pinterest.

 Finally the big day arrived. :) We had pancakes with pink hearts in the center for breakfast. (Pinterest idea...again!)

 We enjoyed the delicious sugar cookies we had made the day before with some friends.She makes 'em look good, eh?

 And we got ready for our 'fancy dinner' when Daddy got home! He brought me purple tulips. Beautiful.

 Here is Kate's fancy hairdo for our fancy dinner. Kara had a "Cinderella bun."

 Here is our fancy dinner! Candles, steak, salad, green beans, ginger ale/apple juice...and stove top. :) And yes, the candle holders are blobs or playdough. :) I'm resourceful. Justin and I forgot/ran out of time to dress up. It was either dress up or eat warm food. I choose warm food. Besides, my pink heart shirt is as festive as it can get. :)

 Fancy Zach making a toast with his fancy plastic goblet.

 Cheers!

 I randomly had all of the ingredients for a delicious fruit pizza. Tradition every year is for me to make Justin a HUGE heart shaped sugar cookie...but we just made sugar cookies the day before and had tons left, so I thought this was a fun, pretty, and 'fancy' alternative.

Me and my Valentine. (Zach took this one) This marks our 7th Anniversary from our 1st kiss! That was an awesome Valentine's Day. NOTHING can top that one. I feel bad that I don't do as much to show him that I love him as I did that Valentine's Day, but I guess we do. It is just shown in different ways... i.e. cooking dinner, laundry, taking care of kids and him going to work everyday and then coming home and helping out around here. I lalalove you so much Justin! And all of my Valen-tinys. :) 

Around the house...

We started getting "The Friend" magazine at our home now that we have 3 Primarians. :) Justin was reading through it with them one Sunday and saw a recipe for CTR pretzels. It was really just a bread recipe, which I was a bit bummed at because I love those big soft pretzels. Delish. Anyway, when it was FINALLY time (making bread with kids teaches them about patience! You have to let it rise!) I split the dough in 3 and gave it to the kids to shape out their CTR. Kara wanted to make a Baby Jesus with a bed instead, so I helped her. Then the other 2 followed suit. :) I had to make a CTR too for Justin to say that we made the CTR pretzels. :)

Playing with their Babies. Zach did his all by himself. :)

Another morning I caught Justin off guard with this picture. What a promo shot, eh? MONTHS ago I bought shreddies with a free T-shirt mail in offer. I figured why not? I sent in 2 offers and got a shirt for Justin and a shirt for Zach. :) Justin ate Shreddies that morning, so I had to get a picture. :)

Zach had to wear his matching shirt with Daddy. It is way too big on him, but he doesn't care. The cutest thing is that Justin was taking the kids to a family center that has a "Daddy and Me" program on Saturdays. He and Zach planned to wear their matching shirts. Zach was so excited. It really made me love Justin that much more, too. I just thought it was cute that he would wear a promo cereal t-shirt to the play group with Zachyboy. :)

What a goob. :)

The kids are playing together a lot too. It is great. Especially when they are getting along and I don't have to be a referee, my main role these days. Here they are in their sleeping bags playing campout. :)

And here I was at 27 weeks.

This is only the 2nd belly shot I've taken this pregnancy! Poor overlooked pregnancy. :) I also think it is kinda funny posting these pictures because I am so behind in blogging. Every time I have posted a prego pic it is not what the reality is...I am about 4 weeks past the picture. Oh well! I am loving feeling this little girl move around and dream about life with her and what she looks like and everything. It will sure be busy and CRAZY with Justin's schedule next year and with Zach starting kindergarten, but I know it is what our family wants and needs now. The kids are really excited. And so am I. I need me some soft baby snuggles. :) Almost there!

Snow Day in Cardston

 Justin and I went to the temple in Cardston. When I walked in Dallin was sitting on the couch with Zach on one side, Kate on the other and Kara nearby hanging out and watching a movie. It was sweet. What a good uncle.

 Cardston got a lot of snow that FREEZING COLD week. We stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's house and stayed and played the next day. It was actually warm-ish. Nice to thaw out again. It was really fun to watch Justin drag the kids up and down the hill. Too bad I am pregnant and tired and paranoid. It would have been nice to help out a bit. ;) I'm doing my part though...See that dot at the bottom of the hill? That's Kara. She gave up.

 Good thing he is so big and strong! Kate's got the right idea, catch a ride up AND down. :)

 There's the dot. She got help up, never fear.

 Zach on the GT Snowracer. I have to say that I really am not a fan of dangerous things. And yes, I consider sledding dangerous. I am a WUSS and I know it. I am mostly just afraid of getting hurt. Like when the girls were 2 1/2 months old and Justin and I went on a nice winter date...ice skating...and I broke my elbow. INCONVENIENT! I am accident prone (especially in winter sports...and lake sports-things I didn't grow up doing) and getting hurt is just inconvenient. So yes, I was nervous sending my kiddos down the big hill. It didn't help that not once but TWICE did Zach 'accidentally' hit the jump. We pointed him away from it and it totally looked like he steered that way. We asked him and he denied it. Grandpa finally just cleared the jump away. It was scary seeing his little body fly off the sled, but then when he was okay, and actually liked it, it was funny. Even he was laughing...glad he is tougher than me! I still personally hope he is always a little scared though. Let's just say cautious...

 Since I wasn't sledding grandpa and Justin went with the kiddos.

 

The snow was PERFECT for snow men. So we went back to grandma's and made one!

And some snow angels.

Grandma got us the goods for the snowman's face...a carrot nose, banana smile, cookie eyes and ears...what a sweet snow man!

So sweet Zach had to take a bite.

Fun day in the snow. It is so crazy that this is only our 2nd real snow day that we played in this winter! Awesome! But now that my kids love playing in the snow it is kinda sad! Plus, if it is going to be cold, give us something to play with at least! I know, I am hard to please. I have to say I am LOVING the clear roads. That is my only REAL hate of winter. Bad dangerous roads.

Do they look tired to you? Ha ha! They laid down to get their boots and pants off. Kate laid like that for a few minutes. Didn't move. Just exhausted. :)

Ha ha!

Last Week In California

Boo hoo. Our last week in California. :( We really missed Justin so we were excited to get back, but I knew it would be hard to go back to cold, inside all day, bundling kids, driving in the snow...and I was right. THE DAY we got back the weather went from sunny and +5 C to -40 windy, and snow. For a week straight. Welcome home. It is nicer again now, so I can't complain, but we still really miss all our our cousins, my parents and sisters, and +25 C weather!!

Here's what we did the last week!

Mer Mer read them stories every night.

Zach loved doing this doll's hair...mom found these on clearance and sent one to our new sister in law Jessica. She JUST started hair school. :) Perfect for her to practice on! Ha ha!

Then Zach got a hair cut of his own...he wasn't too impressed to be on this side of things. ;)

 Papa and Mer Mer took each of the girls out on their individual birthday dates. They LOVED it and felt SOOO special. They took them each to McDonald's and then let them choose where they would go after that. Kara wanted to see Rapunzel's castle. :) Dad found something that kinda looked castle-ish for her, but she wasn't fooled. "It's so small!" :) She was such a sweetie too. She made sure to bring home a cookie for Zach and Kate. She really is a sweet heart.

 Kate went to McDonald's too and then wanted to go see horsies so dad took her on a drive through the horse area of our little town. She loved it!

Zach with Papa and Mer Mer modeling his new sweater right from the beach side stand on our whale watching trip. :)

 We went to the park with cousins. This was the night before we left. :(

 Zach and Michael are buddies. It will be hard for him to go home and not have all of these cousins around to play with.

 The night I was packing up all of our stuff, Mom and Dad decided to head out to Utah and bring Cody and Jessica and Katie's family some heirloom furniture...My parents are so spontaneous. :) Dad magically fit EVERYTHING in the truck. I had to remind him to leave a bit of room for our suitcases! We drove to the airport at 4:30 AM packed TO THE BRIM, seriously. Dad said this was THE LAST crazy thing he was ever going to do. :) We'll see. Luckily, we got a gate pass so my parents brought us right to the gate where we got on the plane and took off to Salt Lake City. There we had a 2 hr layover. A nice worker was there to help us get to our next gate...across the terminal of course. The hardest part was taking them all to the bathroom by myself...I was a bit scared, but I finally decided to just ditch all of our luggage in a semi hidden place (the play area they had for the kids) and took them all to the family restroom. It was all great, but then 10 minutes later Kate had to go again...of course...so we ditched our stuff, again. 

 Kate enjoying the sunrise on our way to Salt Lake City.

The flights with the kids were okay, but they were SO TIRED again and that second flight was getting a bit scary. Each kid wanted to sit with me and I was stuck again with the same problem I always have...1 of me and 3 of them. We survived and Daddy was there waiting for us with open arms. It was SO good to see him again. Kate was rolling a carry on behind her and when she saw him she dropped it in the middle of the walkway and ran to him. These kids LOVE their daddy. EVERY NIGHT they would say they wanted to go to daddy's place. :) But they also didn't want to leave the beach or their cousins. Tough choice. Daddy won out though. Life without Daddy isn't complete. I never want to be away for more than a week again!

But now I can say...

I SURVIVED A (self-imposed) FLIGHT WITH 3 KIDS 4 AND UNDER AT FROM 4-11 AM WITH A 2 HOUR LAYOVER ON 4 HOURS OF SLEEP AT 25 WEEKS PREGNANT!

I know. I am crazy. And I am HOME!!