Grandma Joy's birthday party for Ainsley

Ainsley had been praying for an actual snowstorm ON her birthday and she got it! I peeked outside bright and early on Saturday and saw about 10 inches. I woke up Ryan. "Honey, I think you should get up and plow the driveway for your dad." He mumbled, "plow or shovel?" "PLOW! I's horrible." He grumbled and rolled out of bed. There was a LOT of snow!

After the driveway was cleared, Ryan's Grandma Joy invited us over for a birthday party breakfast for Ainsley. She is so thoughtful that way.

Katie taught the kids how to build a snowman. They seriously didn't know!

The saddest family picture ever.

Utah, viewing and funeral

All of Ryan's family was there for the funeral. I can't think of one missing cousin. It was amazing.

We even saw Shantel, Ryan's cute sister that lives in Florida. We haven't seen her in like 6 years. (She's sitting next to Julee's husband Aaron and Alyssa.)

Ainsley and her cousin Katie at the viewing

Ryan and his cousin Chris

Brandon started a poker club both at the viewing and the funeral. Usually it was in the way, right in front of the body. He didn't know he had so many boy second cousins. They were all so cute!

Alexa and her great-grandpa Phillips at the graveside services. It was snowing and so cold. Ryan dedicated the grave.

Here are all the boy grandsons as pall bearers

Ryan's dad, Mike, and his pretty wife, Lori

This is what we don't miss. Driving in the snow staring at the Utah State Tree. (The orange cone.)

Ryan faking a smile while driving in the nasty storm to Larkin Mortuary.

Ryan's Aunt Jennifer with her granddaughter Brooklyn

Ryan's cute cousin Tracy with her darling little boy, Cohen.

Whirlwind Trip to Utah, Day 1 (or 2?)

Last week Ryan's grandpa, Don Sims, passed away. He was 84 and had been sick for a while. He passed on Wednesday evening and the funeral was scheduled for Saturday (Ainsley's birthday.) That didn't leave us much time to prepare, we don't own any coats, gloves, etc. (or even socks for that matter!) but we hopped in the car after school on Thursday and started the 13 hour drive. I was on the phone a lot cancelling piano lessons, Ainsley's birthday party, our family pictures session, and all the activities we had planned for our weekend. Oh, and can someone feed our cat? Our friends were great enough to lend us some coats.

We stopped in Cedar City at about 1:30 am to call it a night.

The next morning we discovered Ryan forgot his suit pants. Oops. Luckily we found a Kohls and picked some up along with gloves and socks for Alexa.

When we FINALLY made it up to North Salt Lake. The kids were in heaven. Alexa has never seen snow and the other two haven't seen it in YEARS.

this is me. freezing. Coat? All I had was a leather jacket so I stayed inside most of the time.

Ainsley is the instigator of all fights. Thus, she began a snowball fight as soon as we got out of the car.

Brandon was so cold he wouldn't go out unless he was covered head to toe.

Alexa was surprised. It's WET! and it BURNS!

Ainsley's funny comment

Yesterday during sacrament Ainsley made me laugh so hard I almost spit out my bread.

We were chomping on the sourdough that somehow was the sacrament bread of the day. She looked at me with THAT FACE. You know the one that says this is so gross?

After she swallowed she said, "I guess I should be grateful Jesus didn't set up spaghetti noodles to represent his body."

Happy Valentines Day!

Before I get going on our fun valentines morning, I want to say something.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY RYAN! Ryan is the best husband and father in the world. I love him so much. You should all be jealous and stop rolling your eyes at me.

OK, that said, this morning we had our Valentines breakfast, once again using Grandma Dalton's china.
YUMMY! Heart shaped pancakes with warm strawberry sauce and whipped cream. I can't forget to mention the fancy orange juice. (OJ and sprite left over from last night's dinner.)

While the kids were chowing down, I cut the sandwiches into hearts with a cookie cutter and threw some valentines from me in their lunch boxes. Hope they don't get eaten!

Can you see Ainsley's cute heart hair?

I also gave the kids their gifts. A little candy (of course) and this year I gave them shirts to wear on V-Day.

I had trouble finding boys love shirts, so I made this out of heat transfer paper and my silhouette. Brandon loved it. Ainsley and Alexa were easy. I found some cute Valentines shirts and ironed on some xoxo's in silver heat transfer to personalize them just a tad. I also got Ryan a nice springy tie and xoxo'd the tag on the inside. It is supposed to remind him that I love him when he wears it. I know a tie isn't really romantic, but he's a practical kind of guy.

Happy Valentines Day! I love you all!

Pre-Valentines Dinner

Some friends of ours invited our whole family over for Valentines Dinner this year. We were surprised and excited!

So, we decided to have our Valentines dinner on Sunday.
Our menu:

lobster tails and butter

Roasted potatoes, onions and peppers

Asparagus

Valentines punch (Sprite and food coloring)

and some delicious microwaved popcorn chicken dipped in ranch for the less distinguished eaters (namely Brandon and Alexa)

Actually, Alexa ate all her lobster. I'm sure it had something to do with the butter. I don't know what happened to Brandon. On the cruise a couple years ago he ate duck, snails, lobster. Lately, it's go-gurts and top ramen. Weird.
We had a great time eating on my Grandma Dalton's china she got in the 1920's. They are a little chipped, but we treat them so special and with love. We also pulled out the real crystal classes. For some reason no one could get the glasses to sing this time. The kids thought I switched them out for fake glasses. I'm not sure what we were doing wrong this time around!

What we've been up to...

Well, to be honest, we haven't been up to much at all lately! The weather has been nice and that's about it! Ainsley and I made a bunch of pompoms to decorate for Valentines and they are so cute I think we will keep them up until her birthday party. And maybe Brandon's. And maybe Alexa's.Speaking of birthday parties, we have been preparing for Ainsley's 10th. She has decided on a teeny tiny party. Here is a picture of her 2 inch tall invitation.
What's that? You can't read it? Of course not. It's so tiny, I'm not kidding. It says something about

Please come to Ainsley's teeny tiny tenth birthday.

She has so many fun ideas planned, so we will post later after the party.