in memory

When Jake was in high school, one of his older brothers, Eric, passed away. I never had the privilege of meeting him, but I hear he was an amazing person. From what I have heard, one of the things he was known for was how great he was at giving of his time to serve those around him. He would drop what he was doing to help anyone with anything.

One of his favorite places to eat was at Arby's. Back when Jake and I were dating, we went there to remember him on his birthday. We have done that every year since. Here we are last weekend as we remembered him for his birthday.
We love you, Eric!

valentine's day 2015

I love Valentine's Day! I think it is just a fun holiday to celebrate. Here are some of the things we did during the week of Valentine's Day.

 We had a Family Home Evening lesson on telling our loved ones we love them and what we love about them. We wrote what we loved about each other on the little hearts. My favorite was one M said about Jake, "Dad goes to work all day to buy money for us to eat." Ha, something like that, I suppose!

M got to make a Valentine's Day box for school. It didn't take us long to decide we would make a tractor for his box. He chose to do a red CASE tractor. 

Here I am teaching him how to cover the toilet paper roll with electrical tape to make his exhaust pipe. I wanted him to help as much as possible with his box. I didn't want to be that parent who did the project on their own, without the help of the child. Ha! It was a lot harder to have him help than I realized! 

I had him help pull the tape over the box to cover it, and to help cut the tape at times. I traced a circle on some construction paper for a tire and asked if he would cut it out. I knew it wouldn't be a perfect looking circle, but I figured it would still work...yeah...it turned out looking like a messed-up, skinny somewhat-kind of rectangle! M did fine, but I forget he doesn't quite have cutting with scissors down yet! Absolutely no resemblance to a tire. So I cut them out and told me where to glue them on the box!

He and his cousin are "driving" the tractor.

 It was a lot of fun making it! We both learned along the way! He absolutely loved getting all of the fun goodies from his classmates in his box. 

I LOVE sugar cookies...love them! I strongly dislike making them, though--takes way too much time! So I have decided I make them around Halloween and around Valentine's Day; I figure twice a year is plenty! This year Miss A came down to help us decorate the cookies.

 

Here are the kids with their valentines from Jake and I. M got a cane filled with Reese's candy. Baby J got a teething toy.

Jake told me I needed to leave the house for a couple of hours on Valentine's morning. I wasn't sure why, but I headed out to the gym. When I got home, this is what I had waiting for me! He made me my very own edible bouquet of flowers! Ha, I love that Jake thought of this and made it. He was so sweet to do that! He went out and bought the fruit and designed the bouquet all by himself. I was super impressed! Watch out Pinterest!

Love my Valentine!

That afternoon, Jake's parents were sweet to come and watch the kids for us so we could go on a date. We went and bought pants for M (I know, hot date...) and then went to Zupas to eat. It was so nice to go out! Thank you, again, Grandma and Grandpa B!

growing up

Time is going way too fast these days! This little guy of ours is getting too big, too fast! Back in December he finished up in nursery. He was in there for a long time, so I think he was ready to move on to Sunbeams! Here he is on his last Sunday in nursery.

He was a little unsure about Primary, at first, but he quickly seemed to get over that. After a few weeks in Primary, he was asked to give the scripture in opening exercises. When I explained to him what that would entail, he said, "Does that mean I get to go up and talk into the microphone?!" After telling him yes, he got a big smile on his face. "Sure! I can do that," he said. He didn't flinch at all when it was his turn to give the scripture. He just walked right up and said the first article of faith. He did great! 

Here is his first picture he colored as a Sunbeam. 

He also had a birthday in January! Here he is blowing out his candles. 

(Oh, and don't go being jealous of my high-rise apron. You know it looks stylin')

I had been wanting to make him a toy kitchen, so with the help of family, I was able to make him one for his big day. I will post more on making it later, but I think he was really surprised and excited when he saw it!

 

I am loving this stage M is in right now! He is so much fun! Today Jake told him to stop growing so fast. Later, as Jake was tucking him in bed, he told M to, "be good to Mom tomorrow." M replied, "Okay, I will. I'll stop growing so fast." He knows how to obey! 

We are so thankful that he gets to be a part of our family! 

We love you, M!