Happy Valentine's Day

 Our silly little Valentine's....

They smile and look so precious.....

 They must love the day of love....

Or at least like the candy that comes with it....

 But in all honesty, this is more how they feel:

 

 Like I said, silly little Valentine's.

Let's get real, again

I do this every once and a while.  I get all "real life" with you and that can make some of you a little uncomfortable.  So here's your hall pass. Come back and see me tomorrow.  There will be fun pictures and a good story or two.  This is purely for journaling purposes.

This week I seem to be be a little touchy and I hate that. It's no fun to feel picked on.  What's even worse is that no one did it on purpose....I just have felt a little bummed out by a few actions and words.  Lame, I know.

In no way do my feelings of "what the what?!?!" change how I feel about most people, Sometimes I feel like it's just best to get things off your chest.  So this is me getting things off my chest.

Uno:  My kids deserve the best that Jason and I can give them.  They deserve us in their corner every step of the way and, because I'm me,  if you do something to injure their feelings it could get a lil' messy.  I'll be polite about it but you will know I'm sad for your choices.

(side note: As great as my kids are if they ever do something to injure others feelings I'll get a lil' messy with them as well.  Life is a 2 way street.)

Dos:  Sometimes things that shouldn't unnerve me, do.  It's like there is this rational person inside me that wants to be calm, cool and collected but she is trapped by the worry-monster that I inherited from my Grandma Forsberg.  If you ever need a lesson in obsessing over things you can do nothing about come see me. I'm the master.

Tres:  Never diss (super technical word there for you) someone else's parenting choices to their faces.  It can come off as insensitive.  What is best for my brood is not what is always best with yours and I respect that .  Do what's best for you and yours.

Four: The world could use more free ice cream!

Last night

It was just one of those magical nights at our house last night.  Nothing special happened, it was just nice to be home.  Just so I don't forget:

Kahau:

*Did Rosetta Stone for an hour and is really excited about learning French.

*Had her nose in her new book until we MADE her put it down for dinner.

Braley:

*Chatted and chatted about her upcoming science project which she is THRILLED to be doing.

*Took a practice spelling test and aced it. Wha bam! (fyi- I'm so glad my kids can spell bc I can't!)

Ansen:

*Couldn't stop tell me "fun facts" about his upcoming field trip to the Portland Aquarium.

*Kept telling me how much he LOVES his family.

Other:

*Jason's been home all week.  That just makes the week not feel sooooo long.

*At dinner we sat and talked and talked about some important family plans we have made and how to save for them together as a family.

*Laughed and smiled at FUN family memories.

Like I said, it was nothing earth-shattering but it did make my week to sit with my family and just be happy and content.

That's all.

Adios and Aloha

 For a while now we have been talking about getting a mini van.  We used to have one and I loved it.  We were talking about selling the white car and upgrading.  Then the other day Jason said "why don't we just trade in the truck for a van?" I was baffled.  He explained, "The truck is getting up there in miles and I'd like a bigger engine so let's trade the truck, get a van, pay off the van quick, and then get me a different truck."

Whoa.  But I said ok cause it meant I got a van.

Goodbye Big Red.

 I'll miss my stickers. I might just  have to head back to O'ahu to get me some new feet.

 I had very few requirements for the new ride.  I wanted low miles and 7 seats. That's it.  Oh, and I wanted a small payment. I found this beauty on-line and we decided to go check her out.  The miles were right, the price was close to right and it sat 7. When I saw that it was leather, had a 6 cd changer AND a dvd player I knew I wanted her.  I let Jason work his car magic and now she's ours.

 Jamie called it a loser cruiser.  I called her a tard.  When she comes to visit she is NOT driving around in the van until she apologizes and gives me some chocolate from NZ.  I mean it, well mostly just about the chocolate.

Sister Missionary

Back a few years ago when we decided to go to Disney World with the kids for the first time I had a brilliant idea.  I talked to Jason and we decided to take an extra person with us as a "nanny" to help with the kids.  That way we would have 1 big person for every little person.  There was no question about who I wanted to take.  Her name was Ashely and she was the daughter of a good friend of mine. It worked out great and it was a perfect trip to Walt Disney World.

Two Sunday's ago we attended Ashely's missionary farewell.  She took advantage of the new missionary age and is off to serve in the Provo, Utah for the next 18 months.  That was Jason's mission!  How cool is that? 

So good luck to Sister Reynolds and can you believe that my little's are the same size as her now?!?!

Winterhawks vs. Chiefs

 Saturday night was date night with a bunch of our couple friends.  We took in the Portland Winterhawks vs. Spokane Chiefs game and, as always, we had a good time.  For a hockey game it was really quite tame this year.  I don't condone the fights that seem to break out all the time but I've got to be honest, they are fun to watch.

 This game only had one fight but is was a good one. There's a lot of things to remember about this date night.  1) Watching a game in Memorial Coliseum is really cool.  It is a totally throw back to when I would go and watch the Springfield Indians play back in high school with friends.

2) Our friends are so well versed in "game music"lyrics it's ridiculous.  Every snippets seemed to cause someone to say "I LOVED this song!"

3) We've got dancers in our crowd.  Who knew?  It's amazing the skillz some people have been hiding. (Em-if you are reading this I need that pic of Joe:)

 4) Our nephew David's girlfriend, Adrianna, is a dancer for the Rosebuds.  She's a cutie and it was good to see both her and David.

 5) We rode the MAX into the game. We super-lucked out and all had seats on the way in.  The way back to the cars was a totally different story.  Look at these crowds.  Insane.  It was hilarious riding and MAX and "experiencing" late night Portland as a group of sober Mormons.  You just never know what you are going to learn on public transportation.

 

 We always finish off hockey night with dessert at Cheesecake Factory.  It was so yummy.

Great night!

Upcycle Wedding

Two months ago a kid in our ward announced that he was getting married.  Yay!  I love a good wedding.  About one month ago I was talking to his mom, whom I adore,  and she was expressing her concern/stress over getting ready for the wedding, putting together a wedding cake and decorating for a reception.

Enter me and my big mouth.

"I'll do it!  I'll decorate for the reception.  You won't have to lift a finger.  Just hand over what you have collected so far and I'll put it together."

Surprisingly she totally agreed to let me do it.

We were at a ward party at that moment which caused me to gather 4 of my friends in a corner and exclaim:

"Guess what guys!!!! We are putting on a reception."

And because they are my friends and because they are used to me getting us into things like this all they did was smile and say, "Okay sounds like fun."   Have I told you how much I like my friends?  Well, I do.

What had been collected was a single bag consisting of a few yards of tulle, 4 strands of white Christmas lights, a quilt, and a large square of purple fabric.  Luckily my friend Em is from around these parts and her mom had saved a lot of the decorations from Em's reception as well as her sisters.  We broke into that stuff, made a trip to dollar tree, Wheeler Dealer, Wal Mart and "borrowed" tulle and ribbon from my mother-in-law and went crazy decorating.

This swag was made from table flowers, bouquets, and other wedding decor. Jenn and I were so glad to see that it stayed in tact. It really didn't take us all that long to make and it was fun.

Center pieces.

Cake Table.

Em, Tab and Alisha fashioned this arch for the bride and groom to stand in front of to greet their guests.  Way to go ladies!

Gift table.

A friend of the family made their wedding cake for them.  Isn't it pretty?

Then we got a little silly.  We couldn't help it and the arch reminded us of a place to stand and take prom pictures.  So naturally that's what we did.

Totally cost out of pocket was $54.  Not too shabby I'd say. 

And the best part?  We had fun and we still like each other.  I'd say this project was a success.