I will never forget...

I am glad today is done! It was a great day but boy am I tired! Part of today included our Stake RS Women's Conference. About a month and a half ago I was asked to make the centerpieces for the tables. If this sounds familiar, it should. Last year at this same time of year I made centerpieces for our Stake Women's Conference (you can check out this post to see them from last year: http://www.ldscraftproject.com/2011/04/blooming-branches/)

This years theme was taken from Elder Uchtdorf's talk Forget MeNot.

Here's what I came up with and what has invaded my house for the last month or so! All 18 of them!!

 

Here's how they looked on the tables:

I'm happy with how they turned out, but I'm glad it's done :)!

The dunes with the Quains...

 

On Monday we headed out to the Olancha sand dunes. We've been there before a few years ago, but that trip was VERY different. It was COLD, WINDY, RAINY and very miserable the last time we went. I don't think anyone even had a successful run down the dunes on that trip.

Monday was different. It was a gorgeous day, beautiful blue sky, no wind and perfect temperatures. A great day to go sand boarding!

Everyone in the group went down to dunes at least once!

Sometimes by themselves and sometimes together:

N8 and Taylor were the brave ones and stood up on the boards while they went down:

The only downside of going down, is that you have to climb back up the dune!!

We had a great time:

Anyone that has company coming this way that includes teenagers should look into taking the out sand boarding!

Geocaching & Trains with the Quains...

My sisters family came for the weekend on their way down to Disneyland this week. We had a great time, like we always do! They've been here many times, so sometime I feel bad that they have basically done everything there is to do around here! But we found something a little new and different. On Saturday we headed just outside of town and found some geocaches. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to hunt them down.

Can you see the geocache?

Here's another hidden in the bushes

Near the caches there were some parked train cars and we decided to take the opportunity for some pictures!

 

 

 

I love that it's February and we could spend the morning outside enjoying the wonderful weather. A great advantage to living in the desert!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Sweetie...

I love you N8 for all that you do for our family. The things you try to fix:

The outings you take the kids on:

Your commitment to your calling:

And work:

I love you forever and always!

Darn Cats!!!

As I walked into my bathroom tonight to turn the shower on for Bud I found this:

There are only 2 possibilities for this, one is name Paqo and one is named Puma. I have a feeling that they are both at fault!

18 months!!!

Happy 18 months Henry! In a LDS child's life 18 months is a BIG deal. This Sunday he will go to nursery and I think he's going to love it!!

Here's a break down on Henry:

• LOVES Baby Einstein!
• LOVES pretzels (I think it's become an addiction!)
• LOVES talking on Skype, especially to Grandma Handly!
• LOVES his bink!
• LOVES riding in the wagon

He's becoming more and more independent everyday.  We get a few words now: Ma, Da, Quack, Oook (look). He is an excellent screamer especially when he is ready for a snack! So this is a look we get often:

Luckily we get plenty of this too:

Big Naomi visits...

My niece Naomi came this week to stay with us. (The kids call her "big" Naomi because they also have another cousin (not niece) on the other side of the family named Naomi that is 5 years old. So we have big Naomi and little Naomi!) She is a research assistant at BYU and her project is funded through China Lake. They needed to run some tests here so she and 2 coworkers came out and she got to stay with us. We had a great time visiting with her. Unfortunately she came down with a stomach bug during part of her stay. But luckily it was fairly fast moving (and even more lucky-no one else got it!). This was after her recovery!

She and the kids made cake balls one night-Yum!

 

On Wednesday night my nephew (and Naomi's cousin) Spencer got his mission call!! She used Skype so we could hear him open it. It was a little tricky and a little crazy, but we were able to hear the exciting news! He will be serving in the Ogden, UT mission and will be leaving in June!

And then last night she made us dinner. She made gyoza and edamame. It was super yummy!

 

She and N8 went running a few times. N8 really liked having someone to run with.

 

Hopefully she'll be moving to California for grad school this summer and we can see more of her and Bret!