Love is Fire Trucks and Blowing out Candles

Love on Valentine's Day came in many different forms this year.

For Jason, love was:

• receiving M&Ms and his first fire truck from Grandma Linda
• receiving his own play-dough from Grandma Diane
• playing at the park with cousin Shelby
  
• practicing photography skills with mom's help

• hanging out with mom all day
• seeing dad in the middle of the day for a yummy lunch at Arby's
  
• helping mom with laundry

• visiting his friend Elena
  
• blowing out a candle over and over (I attempted to set a romantic atmosphere for dinner with the candle, but Jason quickly put an end to that. As soon as he saw the candle, he ran over and said "cake!" and "happy". Thanks, Kyle, for helping him practice his blowing skills)

• having mom and dad home all evening (instead of a babysitter)

For me and Kyle, love was:

• working (thanks for supporting us, Kyle)
• staying home all day with Jason
  
• meeting up for lunch
• eating lots of yummy treats
• exchanging presents (ski mask, muffin tin, cheese grater)
  
• cooking a delicious steak dinner together
• hanging out as a family
• relaxing with just the two of us after Jason went to bed

I love my family! Valentine's Day is so much better when you don't have to wonder if you'll have a special Valentine, but rather how you'll show your love to your special Valentine(s).

Klondike Derby

This past weekend, February 11 & 12, I went on the Klondike Derby with the scouts in my ward. I survived the night without much sleep. I had to decide whether to leave my face out of the sleeping bag and freeze, or keep my head in the bag with limited air. So it was a night of falling asleep with my head in the bag then waking up to get some air - falling asleep with my face out of the bag and waking up to move back in the bag for warmth. Next time I will be much more prepared as my valentine got me a face mask for the cold. I also forgot my earplugs, so I had a hard time falling asleep to the singing of the scouts next to our camp.

Even though I didn't sleep well, I did have a great time. Friday night we played capture the flag with all the scouts. We spent Saturday watching the scouts participate in the various activities provided by the camp, which included a sled race, orienteering, fire building, and knot tieing. Overall it was a good experience, but I'm glad it only happens once a year.

Stomach Bug + Weekend = Tender Mercy

Poor Jason can't go a day without catching a new virus. We've had fever after cold after fever after cold, etc. I'm trying to be a good mom and resist the urge to use hand sanitizer constantly because I have faith that this will build him a good immune system for later in life.

He's had a yucky cough lately, and this weekend, he got a stomach bug on top of it. I am very grateful that he had the bug on the weekend because Kyle was around to help-- one of God's tender mercies to me. I don't know how I would have cleaned up vomit and consoled Jason at the same time, and overall dealt with the stress on my own. I tried to do it on my own at first because Kyle was at church, but whenever I sat Jason down so I could clean up, he came walking back to me, screaming to get back in my arms, regardless of the mess he was walking through. So Kyle left church early and we weathered the storm together. Thanks for your help, love! You kept me sane.

Another tender mercy: Kyle and I haven't caught the bug yet! Hopefully we will escape it.

Busy Season

Busy season has come to Kyle's work, which means long work days for him. To keep me and Jason from getting too bored or lonely, I try to keep us busy as well by working extra hard to plan out our days with playdates and neat activities. Sounds easy, but it is a lot of work to keep us scheduled all week long, week after week, especially during the winter and on a budget.

Last week we enjoyed a FREE day at the zoo. I was afraid the zoo would be a "zoo", but surprisingly it wasn't.


I've also discovered a neat, free children's museum in South Jordan that we go to once a week. Last week we took cousins Austin and Kayli with us.


So if you want to hang out, give us a call because we would love to do something!

Farewell

We said a sad "farewell" to my sister Brooke and her family. We will miss them a lot because they lived just 5 minutes away. Jason and I visited often in the afternoons when we were bored. Brooke and I used to swap babysitting in the mornings so we could exercise or run errands. But then they had to move clear across the country on us. Come back before too many years pass by!

I've really been missing them this week because Kyle's busy season has started. He gets home late now, so I have to find that much more to do to entertain Jason. I hope I can survive until April.

On a happier note, we are enjoying the many toys, including a beautiful wooden playhouse for the backyard, that we inherited from the Neuenschwanders, courtesy of not wanting to move them. We will try to take good care of the bookshelves and rocking chair so they will be functional when you want them back in a few years.

Left to right: Jason, Kate, Liam, Diane, Sadie

Christmas Day

We spent a lovely Christmas Day with the Robbins family. We're so lucky to have both families so close so we can spend parts of Christmas with both (not to mention having two fabulous dinners).

Jason enjoyed opening more presents.


This is Kyle's reaction when he saw what Blair got us for Christmas...


...University of Utah t-shirts. Now we'll fit in with more of our neighbors, but not all. Some bleed blue like we do.


We are super excited to have our own weed-whacker; we don't have to borrow anymore.


Linda knew I was getting a sewing machine for Christmas, so she thoughtfully bought me some quilting supplies to go with it. Hopefully I can put them to good use.


Jason spent the afternoon wishing he had received a remote-controlled helicopter like Uncle Blair's. He and Austin enjoyed watching it all day long.


There wasn't enough snow for us to go sledding, but we enjoyed playing ping-pong and other games instead.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve celebrations started early in the day. We were planning on spending most of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our parents' houses, so we decided to open our gifts to each other the morning of Christmas Eve so we wouldn't have to tote them everywhere on top of everything else.

All month long our Christmas tree stood with no presents underneath. The night of the 23rd Kyle and I laid out our presents. The morning of the 24th, Kyle showed the presents to Jason, but we left them alone and got busy with breakfast and getting ready. While Kyle and I were getting ready, Jason decided to sneak down the stairs to find out what the presents were all about. Kyle heard the sound of presents being unwrapped, so we crept over to see what was up. We found Jason digging into the presents, happily unwrapping dinosaurs. It was pretty cute. We got some good footage of him not knowing we were watching.


After lunch we cruised over to Grandma and Grandpa Hunsaker's house for Christmas Eve festivities. This year was particularly special because EVERYBODY was there, so we took a picture to document it. My mom used up her mom's old yarn by making hats for everyone. Jason wanted to keep his hat, but Kyle and I gave ours back so my mom could donate them to the humanitarian center.

Jason is quite into hats, but he doesn't keep this one on as long, I think because the yarn is itchy.

My parents always put a lot of thought and work into planning our family Christmas activities, complete with service projects, fun games involving candy and money (I got a one hundred dollar bill!), excellent food with beautiful place settings, Christmas pagents, and gifts. Thanks, mom and dad! It was a magical night. Jason did not participate in the nativity, but he did love the puzzles from Grandma. My mom gave sewing machines to all the girls, along with some lessons, which we will all need. I am very grateful for this useful gift, and hopefully I will put it to good use. We already have a mending pile wating for it.


My parents made fruit-loop necklaces for the little kids. Jason ate all his, and then proceeded to eat Brynn's since she wasn't eating them fast enough. Brynn was kind enough to oblige.