Happy Valentine's Day!!

Ian has had to make his own Valentine box since 2nd grade.  This year was no exception.  He always gets so creative! (In year's past we've made a guitar, a Nintendo DS, and a disco ball.)  This year Ian saw potential in a Golfish crackers box we had on the counter.  So, we turned it into a Strawberry Milk Carton.  The strawberries are recycled from Brylee's birthday straws (We've had a few fall off the straws and were just sitting in the window sill waiting for their next moment of glory.)

I happened to have  book with a "Missing Child" milk carton on the cover, so we made Ian into a "Missing Valentine." LOL  I think it is my favorite part of his box!

We found a strawberry milk Nutrition label online and printed it out to be the size we needed.

As you probally guessed, I did most of the work on this one--once you get those creative juices going, I kind of get carried away.  Ian did help--you can see what he did with the Electrical tape in the time I was mostly working on his box...

Morgan also had to make her own box this year as well. (Yes, she too came down with our mysterious rash as you can see in the picture.)  She did most of it herself.  I think she's going to follow in my creative footsteps.

Grandma Hughes brought the kids over a Valentine treat.  The kids were very excited!  They each got their own cup with some goodies and a light up frog.  They were a hit!

This is what we do every year for the kids.  They each have a mailbox and it gets filled with things from Mom and Dad. (John has one too.)

The kids with their "Mailboxes from Santa". LOL  Zander spied them first on top of the entertainment center after school and said, "Look!  Santa brought us stuff!"  We laughed and told him it was probally Cupid who brought it.  Santa only works Christmas. :)

This year each of the kids got a Hot Wheels car with a "We Wheelie love you!!" note. 

And some gummy worms and gummy hearts with the note "You've wormed your way right into our hearts!"

We love our little valentines! 

Pictures of our Trip to Salt Lake

In true tourist fashion, we took lots of pictures of our trip this past weekend.  We got a new camera that has an awesome zoom on it so it was fun to play.  This is the hotel where we stayed.  It was right on the U of U campus which made it convient for John's test Saturday morning.  We were riding with Melinda, and were laughing that her Garmin GPS unit could not find it.  After a call home for the address and phone number (after a "Sharp Left!" and still not being able to find it--we ended up by a field) we called the Guest House and they told us that Garmin have trouble finding their hotel.  We really laughed when after finding it, Melinda programmed the coordinates into it and labeled it "U Guest" and after going somewhere Saturday night it took us back to the Education building where they took their test, and not the Guest House. LOL I wonder what Garmin has against it?

 Our lovely Hotel room with a cute guy in it. :)

 Saturday after John and Melinda took their test, we decided to go to Temple Square and wander around.  It's been several years since any of us had been there, so it was a lot of fun.

 We were laughing that Angel Moroni had a friend visiting. (Doesn't our new camera have a great zoom on it??--I am so excited about that!)

 It was All State Choir/Orchestra day.  We got to listen to the Orchestra practice in the Tabranacle.  That was pretty cool.  I think the baby likes music.  She started moving like crazy when the orchestra was playing! :)

 It wouldn't be a trip to temple square without going in the visitor's center and seeing the Christus Statue.  When we showed this picture to Micah he said, "There's Jesus on the moon!"  Silly kid.

 We also decided to go take a tour of the Conference Center.  John and I have never been inside, and it was awesome! :)  We had a great little tour lady who gave us lots of information.

 It's hard to believe that they can fit 21,000 people in here for General Conference and other activities.  It's pretty amazing.  We got to go to all the levels and look down on the stage.  There is not a bad seat in the place, other than being so far away.

 John and I were amazed at all the original artwork that is hanging in the Conference Center.  All the original paintings of the pictures in the Book of Mormon were hanging there.  It was pretty cool to see all the brush strokes and notice things that get missed when looking at the prints.  They don't always translate across the same.

 I've seen this picture many times before, but had no idea the magnitude of it.  It is 34 feet wide and I think she said 9 feet tall.  Pretty amazing to look at!

 We were glad that Melinda was a good sport taking our picture for us in various places all day long. LOL 

 Us on the trax train.  John had never ridden it before, and it's been almost 10 years since I have.  It is definantly the way to get around--especially if you are a student.  We didn't have to worry about parking spots or driving downtown in all the construction.  We were glad we chose to travel this way Saturday afternoon.

 This is the Legacy Bridge on the U of U campus. (We had to walk across it to get from the hotel to the trax station.)  We got back as the sun was setting, and  John was taking some pretty cool pictures.

 Sunday morning before we came home, we stopped at Rice Eccles Stadium to take some pictures of the Olympic stuff that is there.

It was a great weekend!  We had a lot of fun, and laughed so much our stomachs hurt!  I'm glad we were able to escape for a day or two and spend some time together.  The kids even survived at home.  Our friend Cindy said that Eli was really starting to miss us by Sunday morning.  He noticed our bathroom light was on (Morgan was doing her hair for church) and he ran in there and said, "Ma ma!"  When he saw it was Morgan, he ran back out, put his head on our bed and just started sobbing. :(  Sad little guy.  When we got home (just after church was over) he wouldn't let me go.  It was cute.  We missed you guys too and are glad to be home! :)

Micah is Hungry

I think Micah must be growing again.  He is constantly asking for snacks or saying he is hungry.  Not that this is anything new, but it seems that he is asking in closer intervals this week.  Like 5 minutes after a meal or snack close together.  Two days ago, I was doing the lunch dishes, and Micah came in.  He said, "Mom, I'm hungry, and...hungry wants me to have a fruit snack." I laughed, but gave him one. I guess "hungry" is now an imaginary friend or something that whispers his wants to Micah. Less than 5 minutes go by and Micah is back. "Mom, Hungry wants me to have ice cream!" Nice try, buddy. Not going to happen. You can take that up with your Dad when he gets home.LOL

Conversation with Micah

"Mom, I want to go out of town."

"We were just out of town yesterday." (I had a doctor's appointment.)

"No Mom, by myself!"

"Why do you want to go out of town by yourself?"

"Ummm...to get a laser light like Ian's.  Then I would come back."

"Oh.  And how are you going to get out of town by yourself?"

"I'll take the train!" (Slight pause and then...)
"Maybe I'll wait until I'm older."

Eli's new shoes

Eli needed some new shoes, so when we were in Price yesterday, I decided to look for some.  We stopped in at Payless to have his feet measured and look, but they only had 2 pair of shoes in his size.  Neither of which I liked very well, and I was not going to pay $17.00 for a pair of shoes he'd grow out of in a month or two.  So, on to Wal-mart we went.  When we got to the shoe department, Eli pointed to this brown pair of shoes.  I liked them, so we found his size and tried them on.  I wanted to try a couple of different kinds on him, but he was not having it.  He would pull his feet away from me, cross his ankles, cry and push away any other pair of shoes I grabbed off the rack.  He had found his shoes and that was that.  LOL  At least they are cute! (I took better pictures of Eli and his shoes, but my camera is giving me fits and wouldn't download to the computer correctly, so sorry they are blurry, and washed out.)

Zander, Zander...

Last night the kids were building forts and beds with their blankets.  Zander had his on the couch (the kids slept in them last night) and John told him to climb in.  Once he did he exclaimed, " I'm all snuggied!" which made us laugh.
I went to grab the camera and Zander didn't want his eyes opened.  He told John he was a "sleeping mummy".

After that picture, John told him to open his eyes for me.  He said, "okay, I'll be an awake mummy now."
Silly kid!

Ian told me to take a picture of his "floating head".  He used our baby gate for his fort. Gotta love their imaginations!

Santa Clause Is Coming to Town!

It is a tradition in Green River that Santa visits the Fire House on Christmas Eve.  We got some really cute pictures of the kids this year.  I was asking the kids what they were going to ask Santa for, and Zander said, "I don't know! You and Dad already got me what I was going to ask Santa for!" I said, "What's that?" He said, "A gun with orange bullets.  It's wrapped under the tree!"  I think someone got their dad's genes and knack of being able to tell what's in a present before it is opened! (We just put the presents under the tree last night due to Eli's mischeviousness--didn't take Zander long to snoop!) Great! Now I get to try and disguise his gifts every year too. :)  Guess that will become part of the Christmas fun. LOL  Enjoy our Santa pics!

Let it Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow.  Micah looked out the window and said, "It's Christmas!!  We can open presents now!" He wishes. :) LOL  He is so funny.

The kids decided they wanted to go out and play before it all melted away.  They didn't last very long--we haven't pulled out the real winter gear yet, so their hands were all freezing, but they were happy little snow bunnies.

Ian made a little snowman.  I told him it looked like a bird...

So he turned it into one. :)  He is very creative!