Happy 4th Birthday Katelyn

February is a busy month for our family. Katelyn turned 4 this passed Saturday and we had a great time celebrating her birthday. All of her cousins and family came over for her birthday dinner. She got lots of fun presents from everyone and mom spoiled her with a princess cake. Here are some fun pictures from her special day.


She is so cute! I can't believe she is already four! We found this video of her when she was really young and this is what I think of when I think of Katelyn. Thanks to Grandma we have this precious video that she took while baby sitting so we could go on a date.



(Notice we had a little snow fall that morning...) Poor Katelyn, she always seems to have a wintery birthday even though it is sometimes warmer days before.


I was so excited, I just had to take a picture of her french braid. Her hair is finally long enough to do it so I couldn't resist.


Here she is opening her first big present for the day...




Brayden was very interested in helping her with all of her new birthday presents...


That afternoon, my brother brought over their blow up castle and the kids had a blast. Their hair was everywhere from the static electricity. It was so funny!







So Katelyn is really into the Disney Princesses and since she got all of the dress up dolls for Christmas, I thought she would love to have a Princess castle as her birthday cake. This was a pretty time consuming cake to make, but I had fun doing it!






My brother's little boy stuck his finger into the side of the cake after we sang and that gave me an idea to just let all the kids dig in. We even put the little ones on the table so they could dig in. Needless to say it was fun to watch them all demolish it. They had so much fun. It was pretty funny!



Hannah and Katelyn both have a birthday in February so they shared this one together.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend. Our ward had a dinner/dance that we attended. That was nice to have an evening out, but I'd have to say a highlight for me as a mother was watching Katelyn have so much fun participating in the holiday. Her class had a fun Valentine's party at school and she was so excited. She has learned to write her name by herself and so she carefully prepared all of her valentine's for her friends with her name on it. Here is a video of her handing them out to all her friends.

Happy 28th Birthday Sean

So we decided to adventure out and make a fun birthday/Valentine's weekend for the both of us. We got brave and left our two beautiful children overnight with Grandma and Grandpa and we headed off to St. Louis for the weekend. This was our first time ever staying the night away from the both of them at the same time. I'd have to say, "I wish I had done this sooner!" It was so fun! I love my children and I love being a mother, rocking them to sleep, wiping the peanut butter from their cheeks, and reading them books from the library, but there is just something wonderful about going on a trip and not having to turn around every second, answering those "why" questions, ordering their chicken nuggets as fast as we can, and trying to get them to calm down before bed in a hotel. It was so nice to just focus on my sweetheart and give him a great birthday weekend. We had a great time visiting and spending time shopping, eating out, going to the temple, and then to a science museum.

Of course our first stop upon arrival was the Apple Store. Sean would love to get the Iphone, but our contract is not up for a while unfortunately. So we got the next best thing: An ipod touch



We went to the cheesecake factory for his birthday dinner and then we did a little shopping. We went back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxation.





The next day we got up at six to spend time in the exercise room and then we got ready for a session at the temple. Then we headed to a science museum with lots of things that Sean enjoys. His highlight of the day was riding on a Segway. It was $5 for 5 minutes, but well worth it. They weren't that busy so they gave Sean more time than that and then they convinced me to ride one too. I felt I was getting the hang of it until I ran into the wall. Hahaha. I think I was just day dreaming or something like that. It was pretty funny. To me, it was a lot harder than it looked! Trust me!

First and Probably Last Snow Storm

It's funny how most of Sean's family is probably wishing they could get a break from the snow where they live, but here we are so excited to have it that we spend the day playing in the little bit that we got.





There was a lot of ice under it so it made for a great sledding day. Katelyn and Brayden had fun playing in it together. When daddy got home from work, Brayden hopped on for a fun ride down our backyard which is a gradual hill. It made for a long fun ride.





Then he had to have his first lick from an ice cycle. Yuck! I remember doing that when I was a kid too! I guess there is a first for everything.



Of course we had to make a snow man too!

Cousin Logan

My sister came into town this past weekend and we got to see Logan. He turned one this month so he has really grown since we last saw him. He was walking all over and talking to the kids in a "baby talk" way. He was so cute. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but here are some of Katelyn, Brayden, and Logan together just before bedtime. You can definitely tell they are related because it is amazing how much they look alike!