Julia's big day

This is Jolie and Julia 8 years ago.

This is Jolie and Julia now.  

Even though they live thousands of miles apart, they were able to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints together.  It was the most wonderful day full of family, friends and happiness.

Happy Birthday James

Happy Birthday to my 11 year old boy!  A few things about James:

He is a very nice boy, his teacher emailed me and said he is a friend to everyone.

He is very smart, he reads about his grade level and constantly improves

He is athletic, he loves all things football and basketball

He knows the rules of football and basketball better than anyone I know

He would rather watch ESPN than anything

He is a good big brother and is cute with his sisters.  

 He also saluted cub scouts goodbye, crossed the bridge and signed his name and entered the world of Boy Scouts.  He earned his arrow of light and Webelo.  We are so proud of him. 

Love Cafe

This year for Valentine's Day, we had our own restaurant.  My friend, Joey, gave me the idea and I was so excited to do it.  Aaron and I and Grandma Susan were the customers and the four kids worked there.  They had so much fun.  I can't wait to do it again.

 

James showed up to take our order with an accent and a mustache, 

it made us laugh.   He is so funny!

 

Busy at work preparing our food.  I had to intervene a few times when Addie 

kept licking the serving spoons.  The employees also showed up at our table

and drank our soda's without asking.  haha

 

You don't always get what you order, I wanted a brownie with ice cream.  They thought it would be better with lots of toppings.

This is the bill that arrived.  I totally disagreed with the terrible service part so

we paid them in Valentine's Day gifts.

 

Perhaps the best view of the date for me was the handsome dishwasher busy at work:

 

This was the funnest new tradition.  I don't think we will wait until Valentine's day to do it again.  The kids had so much fun and we couldn't stop laughing at the silly things they did.  I would hire them in a heartbeat, even considering their antics :) 

Valentine Mailbox Station

I saw these cute mailboxes on a website attached to a cute candlestick and wanted to copy them.  The craft store only had one wood candlestick and it was $4.00.  I came up with this less expensive idea.  I bought the wooden dowel for $2.00 and used a scrap of wood we had sitting in our garage.  The mailboxes were $1.00 each at Target.  I put Aaron on the case and he cut it, routered it, drilled holes and had James paint it. I just hot glued the mailboxes to the dowel and in the hole to secure them. I thought it turned out cute and wanted to share an easy and cheap idea.  The kids love to check their mail each day to find notes and treats.