Kansas City, Missouri Temple Open House

They went to Kansas city for the temple's open house, then went to the liberty jail and got to see Adam Ondi Amon!

A celebration of love as bright and enduring as silver(ware)

April 22, 2012

A celebration of love as bright and enduring as silver(ware)

We celebrated our 19^th anniversary this weekend! It seems like such a long time, yet it went so fast! We designed out perfect weekend.

1. We got a 30% off coupon for Kohls! So, we went and finally bought new, quality silverware. See, for the 19^th anniversary, your gift is supposed to be bronze. Really? Yuck! I figure if we have had an amazing, successful marriage for 19 years, I should get to choose what the gift is, so I choose silverware!! It felt amazing to throw out all the old silverware that cut your lips because it had gone through the disposal so many times, and severely crooked fork tongs that poke you in the face and won’t hold onto food. I even got a special basket where everyone can put the new used silverware so it doesn’t EVER go through the disposal. Romantic? Maybe not. But we LOVE it! So, that’s what counts.

2. On Friday night, we took Tyler and Alayna to celebrate with us (the girls were out of town). We went to Fiesta Del Sol for dinner and hit Coldstone for our favorite desserts. Then, we came home and watched “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” which we LOVED and think is the best Mission Impossible movie so far!

3. On Saturday, Bob and I went out on our own. We tried the new restaurant called “Noodles and Company” and loved it! Then we stopped at the new Chocolate Shop in downtown Marion to try some truffles which were delicious and reminded me of Condie’s Candies.

4. We usually go out for a movie or to do something else, but we needed so badly to relax! AND we basically have a movie theater in our house so why not watch there? So, we stopped by the video store and then kicked back for the rest of the day and it was wonderful!!

*“The Dilemma”- very funny with Kevin James and Vince Vaughn.

*“In Time” VERY fascinating concept! You gotta see it just for the cool idea!

*“Shark Night”- BEST scifi shark flick we have seen in a while. Wish I could have seen it in the theater in 3D! So dang cool and I screamed bloody murder like 3 times. Gma Ribera- its right up your alley!

"When you come to the temple you will love your family with a deeper love than you have ever felt before.” Richard H. Winkel

The girls had Youth Conference this weekend. They went to the Kansas City, Missouri temple open house. Their whole group started out 2 hours late because one of the buses wasn’t working, then on the way, one of their buses got a flat tire. They got in late that night (Friday). Yesterday they were able to visit Liberty Jail, tour the temple, and go see Adam Ondiaman (sp?) . Then came back and had a stake dance. To say they are tired today would be an understatement. They did say, though, that it was an absolutely amazing trip and they are so glad they went!!! I hope to track down pics since my girls somehow “forgot” to take any!

Lots of other STUFF

*Bob gave an amazing talk in church today. I always stand in awe when I see him. He has such a gentle peace to him. Makes me so proud of our 19 years together!

*Alayna had her Grace Notes concert this week and she did a wonderful job! This week she has been trying out tons of musical instruments to try and decide what she wants to start playing in 5^th grade. I think she is trying to decide between percussion, the violin, the trumpet, and the clarinet.

*Alayna has started on her State Fest Float. She chose Arizona. She isn’t done but has done all of this herself. Quite talented right?

*Took Alayna to the walk-in clinic today.  She has a sinus infection and has been feeling pretty miserable.  Now that she has the antibiotics, she should start feeling better.

*Beautiful weather!

Busy, Busy, Busy

1. Tyler- earned his 1st class in scouts!  We asked him before the Court of Honor if he would be getting anything and he said no, so we missed it!  Ugh!!!

2. Merit badge clinic- Tyler attended an all day scout clinic working on his theater and agriculture merit badge.

3.  State solo/ensemble- Marisa participated in the State solo/ensemble contest.  Should get the results tomorrow.

4.  Kayla tennis meet- she has won both meets so far!!

5.   Marisa scholarship- Marisa got a FUL TUITION scholarship to BYU! 

6. Kayla- Kayla was nominated for the National Honor Society.  She officially applied and now we are awaiting results.

7. Storage room at work- I am REALLY good at organizing.  I gotta take pics of the back storage room.

8. “The darkest hour”- movie we watched this week and I loved it!

(His team phiten, phone cover, and braces colors)

Let the joy of Easter fill up your heart today and the whole year ahead. Happy Easter!

April 8, 2012
Let the joy of Easter fill up your heart today and the whole year ahead. Happy Easter!
We got all our fun Easter stuff out and Alayna planned a fun Easter egg hunt for a FHE lesson for this afternoon.

Spring Germage
Tyler got very sick this week. I thought it might be strep. I took him in and sure enough the doctor looked down his throat and said, “Whoa! I don’t even HAVE to do a test- we need to get him on antibiotics right away!”. So Tyler missed 2 days of school. Then, Bob, Alayna, and I all got a touch of the flu. That was fun. And Bob has another infection starting so he is on another dose of antibiotics. Not a fun week as far as health goes.
Library Décor
I did get a ton done at work this week. Our new furniture (that we got a grant for) finally arrived!! It looks awesome!

(Student named Freddy with my boss, Becky, trying out the new chairs)

Got my Manga and Superheroes display up:


Still working on my bookmark display:

New Sheldon Cut Out:

New DVD Display:

Sweet 16 and Spring Break for Mom

Happy Sweet 16 to Our Kayla!

Kayla turned 16 on Monday! All she wanted was to go to the midnight premiere for Hunger Games and then for her actual birthday she requested Fettuccine Alfredo and a fruit pizza. What?! So, I attempted one for the 1^st time, it didn’t turn out Pinterest worthy but it tasted amazing.

(She couldn’t be bothered to get off facebook to get a picture with her cake.  Teenagers!)

Then her friends gathered up their money and took her shopping all day yesterday. She was in heaven!

We took her on Tuesday to get her official license and now she can drive on her own. Ill be honest that we haven’t seen hardly any of her face since then. She is taking her new found freedom to a new level- however, it may take until she runs out of gas for it to dawn on her that she needs a way to pay for it. I wanted to get a picture of her license but she refused. Surprised?

Bob also made her a special surprise breakfast for her birthday. Maybe our kids get their crafty/creative genes from Bob after all?

Spring Break for Mom

This is the 1^st time in 17 years that I had a spring break to myself!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I highly value alone time and I got a whole bunch of it this week.

One day I got my hair cut, went on fun lunch date with Bob, went “me shopping” for stuff for the house, and got some new chocolate (dark chocolate M&Ms) which is to DIE for! I even took a nap- so it was great day!

I have been working on spring cleaning the house slowly all month. When the kids had their break I had them help with several tasks. I used this week to finish everything else. I about killed myself since I ignore my body screaming to slow down and stop, and as always I suffer greatly the next day, but I hate leaving tasks undone and now since I am a working mom, I end up falling behind so quickly.

I worked for 2 straight days on the kitchen. I scrubbed out the inside and outside of every cupboard, and even oiled all the wood from top to bottom (brought back memories of bonding time with my dad). I bought new kitchen organizers and my kitchen rocks now (Nina you wouldn’t even recognize my kitchen!)

Misc

I have officially deemed Iowa as having bipolar weather. It has been gorgeous all week (and winter for that matter). In fact, March is the warmest it has been here for 134 years! The kids have been out bike riding, playing, and have a great old time. However, last night we had a freak lightning storm with pea-sized hail, and ALL 4 kids were stuck in it! Tyler and Alayna were letting the neighbors dogs out, Marisa was at work with my nice car, and Kayla was stuck with friends in downtown Marion, and “had” to stay in a restaurant and eat a giant cookie while waiting out the hail. Today the temp is supposed to hit 80 degrees. That works for me!

Guess Who Got Asked to Prom?

Was asked by Thomas Jewel (a really good friend) and she said yes!  Look on my facebook page to see some of the video!