My Favorite Things..

I love Valentine’s Day.  I love helping the kids with their cards.  I love getting them all dressed up for school (even though I had to wage war on Jordan to get her to wear tights to school).  I love that there is a positive day to celebrate our relationships.  This week has been full of things I love!

For Starters:  My Ward. 

I know… Cheezy!  I helped with Enrichment last Wednesday night and I was not excited.  I did not want to go at all.  However, when I got there I was again reminded of what wonderful people I live around.  We had Stake Conference this weekend and again the same reminder.  As the time of the wedding gets closer and it is clear that I will not be in the Wellsville 8th Ward forever it makes my heart ache.  I am SO excited for the future but the 8th ward is where I became an adult.  This is the ward that has nurtured me and I have done the same back.  These are the people I have cried with, laughed with, fasted with, attended the temple with, bore my testimony to, taught and been taught, prayed for and I know they have prayed for me.  These are my friends with whom I hold nearly 10 years of history.  I can’t think about leaving but I am certain that what the future holds will be equally as positive.  I have been blessed and know I will be blessed elsewhere.

My Family:

I love my family!  I love that I see or talk to ever member of my family every week.  I love that I see my nieces and nephews so often.  I love that we ski on Saturday.  I love that when Hunter rides his bike down the hill to my house he just walks in.  I love that the kids know where the treat drawer is and they don’t feel like they have to ask.  I love that we ski together, eat Sunday dinner together, have birthday parties together and laugh SO hard together.  Here are a few photos:

Mitchell is always with us too but he was with Jeff when I took the photos. Kim’s kids are usually always with us but this particular Saturday they were sick.  Never mind that Lance felt like Reagy’s 106 temp was no good excuse to not show up to ski.   Note the presence of Jordan:  skiing is now her “favorite thing ever.”  I love ski lifts.. I love them because there are no distractions and nothing else to do but talk.  I would love to know what Taylor and Hayden are discussing in the bottom right.  When I took the icicle photo Hayden told me it better make my blog. 

 

Chase, Taesha, Taylor, Mitchell and Jordan: 

I spent the morning in Jordan’s class and just loved the excitement that the 1st graders had for Valentine’s Day and each other.  Where does that outward excitement go?  Okay… never mind, it never really goes away.  Can you say.. OUTBURSTS (inside joke)!  I really do have an outward excitement about my children.  They are the people I am the most passionate about.  At Stake Conference out Stake Patriarch bore his testimony.  He said this “parents need to make EXTRA effort every day to make sure their children understand they are divine son’s and daughter’s of our Heavenly Father.”  Wow…  what a blessing to have children!

Jeff:

Every Valentine’s Day since Jeff and I started dating I have received a dozen roses at work on the day before Valentine’s day.  The first year he sent them a day early he said it was because I was that special that I deserved to be the first to receive flowers.  Now..  I am not sure about that, nor if he actually plans to send them early but he does.  Here is a photo of this year’s flowers:

I truly am the luckiest girl alive.