Life

Life is returning to our neck of the woods. I love spring in Oregon because it always comes in February. It has been a beautiful week. The flowers are slowly making their way out of hibernation. The birds are chirping in the mornings. The days are slowly getting longer and it feels as if the earth is coming back to life after a long winters nap.

It has been nice to have spring this week to put a little sunshine in our souls. On Sunday we found out that our dear friends lost their four day old baby. There were complications with his birth and he spent four days on this earth before returning home to our Father in Heaven. We have shed many tears and our hearts are aching for them. We wish we could be there to support them during this difficult time. (They live in Utah) I am so grateful that I know we can have eternal families and I know our friends will be with their son again. They are the salt of the earth and I know they will get to be with their son for eternity. Even though we did not meet him or hold him we know he is a special spirit with a special mission. The spring flowers have reminded me that even after death their is life. It is because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we can one day be resurrected and live in eternal glory.

I hope that spring comes soon wherever you are and it reminds you of the gift of earthly and eternal life.

Thirty

Dan celebrated his 30th birthday earlier this month. He is now an old man! We celebrated by watching the Super Bowl (his birthday just happened to land on the same day....lucky guy!!) and my sister's family decorated the house with lots of 30's. There were 30's hanging from the ceiling, the walls and he got lots of 30 presents.








As you can see Dan loves his nieces and nephew and they sure do love him! We are so lucky that we live close to my sister and we love their kids. They bring us so much joy! I wanted to do something really big to celebrate the big 30, but my plans kept getting messed up. Dan kept insisting all he wanted was to watch the Super Bowl and hang out with the family, so that is what we did.



Yes, we made sure there were 30 candles on the cake. He did need a little help blowing them out!









I did get him a new watch and I know I did well, because a week later he is still telling me how much he likes it. Don't forget to notice his necklace of 30 paper clips!!

I love you Danny!

Twenty-Ten

Doesn't it feel like just yesterday we were "gonna party like it's nineteen ninety-nine"? It makes me feel old to think that it is twenty-ten. We finished off the holidays by celebrating in style...

We made some gorgeous hats out of news print, tempera paints, feathers and pipe cleaners. (can you tell that I am a preschool teacher?!)

We played a rousing game of charades...

We partook of a fabulous fondue dinner and dessert!

Then we rang in the new year with LOTS of confetti, cheering, running outside to catch a glimpse of the fireworks, a kiss and a hug and a New Years toast!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Collage Catch Up and Commencement!

We had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with several of our friends the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Everyone brought side dishes and we (mostly Dan, because I don't touch raw turkey!!) made the turkey. It was so much fun to get together with our bestest buds and eat great food. I think we will be making this a tradition.



We spent the week of Thanksgiving at my sister's house and had a great time making and eating lots of yummy food! Once again, the men were in charge of the turkey. Dan has actually become a turkey expert! He enjoys making a citrus turkey with lemons, limes and oranges. We had fun playing with the kids, getting up at 3:30 am on Black Friday and attending the girls' dance performance of "The Grinch" on Saturday night.

I had a great birthday, thanks to my great hubby and great friends!! My friends surprised me by showing up with pizza and we watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, ate pizza and other yummy treats and had a great time gabbing through the movie. It was the ideal evening for me!



The following weekend we got to celebrate my birthday AGAIN with my sister's family. We have made it a tradition to do Christmas Crackers on my birthday. It is a little paper thing that you pull apart and inside there is a prize, a joke and a crown. (That's why Dan is holding up a magnifying glass!) This same day was Dan's commencement so we got to share a celebration cake.




Dan participated in Commencement a few weekends ago!! He doesn't officially graduate until the end of March, but it was fun to celebrate this major milestone in his life. Here are a bunch of pictures with his buddies!





I am SO proud of Dan. He has worked SO hard and we can't believe the time has FINALLY come to move on! He has worked so hard to get to where he is at and I am so so so proud of him. There really is no other way to describe it. I brought my cheering section with me and we made sure to shower him with gifts. He is going to be an amazing Chiropractor!

i ♥ my new camera

So, I got a new camera for Christmas!!! My hubby gave me the nicest note with my gift that said he was so grateful to me for helping him get through school and that this was a graduation/Christmas gift to me!! The note was very sweet and one of the best parts of getting the gift. I almost died of SHOCK on Christmas morning when I opened it up. (I kind of started crying!) It is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and I am SO excited to get back to taking great pictures. I have two books coming from the library on how to use my camera and I am going to take a class at MHCC next quarter. (since I work there and get free tuition!) I have been reading the manual and taking billions of pictures. These are a few I just wanted to post because I like them. I hope by next year to be knocking your socks off with my amazing photography skills!!! THANKS DANNY!! I love you!

What will you give for CHRISTmas?

Deathly Hallows

Dh Preview One - Click here for funny video clips

Ok, so here I go again! Here is a short new look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I. It will be in theaters November 19, 2010. (That's only 348 days!) This preview will also be available on the Half-Blood Prince DVD that is being released on Tuesday! I'm so happy that they are splitting the last film into two parts. It just gives me one more movie before Harry Potter comes to an end!