Searching

Cassie and Mallory came back today. They leave early Saturday morning. :( Cassie got her hair cut and it looks super cute. I should get a picture with Ange and Cassie on Friday. Both have recently cut their hair, and they both look great!

Cassie and I went over to my dad's house tonight. We spent a few hours going through his garage. Cassie wants to organize it so bad! The problem was we didn't have any heavy lifters with us. We did go through and get a lot of pictures. Although the one thing Cassie really wanted we couldn't find. We were looking for John's Book of Remembrance. Hope we run across it somehow, but it's not looking good.

By the time we got home, my fingers were so cold! I shivered half the night. I am so blessed that I have such a comfortable/warm bed!

School Bee

Stockton had his classroom spelling bee. He won - thank goodness. (It would have been really heartbreaking for him to lose when he won every practice spelling bee they had!) The school spelling bee will be next Wednesday. Hope he does well . . . we're not really sure what to expect.

Peaceful

The kids didn't have school today. I decided I didn't want to get out of bed. It was awesome. Once I wake up, if I try to go back to sleep, my back usually ends up hurting me for the rest of the day. Today I decided to read a book. Sam gave me a book for Christmas and today was the perfect day to read it. I opened the blinds on the sliding glass doors in my room, cuddled up with my heated mattress pad on and watched it snow outside. It was great. I don't remember the last time I was able to completely relax. I stayed in bed until Bubs and his family came over this afternoon. That was a welcomed treat. Today has been an extremely peaceful day.

Forgetful

How did I turn into such a flake? I am so forgetful lately. This past week, I forgot to go to my visiting teaching interview. Even after getting a text the night before. I scheduled my interview so I could do it right after I dropped Josh off at school. (I carpooled this week.) Instead of going to my interview, I had the genius idea of going to the store to look for a new calendar because I keep forgetting things! Aaah.

That wasn't nearly as bad as what happened today. A few days ago, Brother Krutzer called and asked me to say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting. I wasn't excited about it, but I agreed to take my turn. This morning, I completely forgot. Not only that, I forgot when I was in sacrament meeting. Even after my name was in the bulletin. Even after they announced my name! After the song, I just sat there until someone on the stand got up and said the prayer. It didn't even dawn on me until the middle of the meeting that I was the one that was scheduled to say the prayer. I was so embarrassed! What is happening to me!

Shopping With Mallory

Mallory was driving the cart when we went shopping today. She loved it! A few times she was so happy she would bounce up and down and bang her head into the back of the car thing. Pretty funny.

Mallory

Stephanie and Mallory

Mallory's Back!

Cassie and Mallory came back from Idaho today! Yay! Cassie met Aunt Jackie at McDonalds before heading down. My dad came over for a bit. His top lip is swollen. He said a few days ago his bottom lip was swollen, and another day his chin. He has no idea what is going on. Maybe today it was just because it is Friday the 13th.

Jackie & Mallory

Grandpa Millburn & Mallory

Woof-Woof

Preston got a new friend today and he is so excited! Preston was given a dog pillow pet by his grandpa when he turned four. He uses him as a pillow every night and has named him Woofer. Today, we saw a mini-dog pillow pet that was 75% off! I couldn't pass that up. Preston loves him and named him Woof-Woof. Preston has a favorite stuffed animal. A dog named Shiver. I dread the day when Shiver gets ruined or lost. Anyway, Preston was so excited to sleep on Woofer and have Shiver sleep on Woof-Woof. How cool to have something so simple make you so happy.

Preston on Woofer, Shiver on Woof-Woof

Pretending he is asleep . . . adorable.

Missing Georgia

When Mike was finishing our basement in our Georgia house, he put a little "dog house" under the stairs. You had to crawl through one closet to get to it. It was really small, but the kids had a great time with it. Today Preston was talking about how much he missed our house in Georgia . . . especially the dog house/hidden room. He said, "Maybe Dad can make a hidden room here." I asked him how he would do that. Preston said, "With a drill . . . and nails to hold up the wall." If only it were that easy.

Preston also talked about how he wished there was a door at our house we could walk through to get to our computer room in Georgia, and then another door to get back. Again, if only it were that easy. He also told me that Stockton wishes we could have our house in Georgia with our backyard here, but he liked our front and back yard in Georgia. It's hard for a little boy to move. It's hard for a girl in her 30s to move. Too bad we couldn't take our house with us, but we are loving our life here!

Rachel

I talked to Rachel today. Hopefully we can come visit her in Japan this summer. We'll see. Too bad the hotels are all booked up on the weekends! Maybe we will come next summer. And by we I mean Maysen and I . . . and maybe Mike.

Jorja's in Love

Jorja is in love with her frog Pads. Mike took these pictures of her a few days ago. I just realized they were here.

Jorja and Pads

I spent my day doing laundry. While I was folding the clothes, I noticed we had deer in our backyard. There were about five or six. I'm so glad they didn't fall in the swimming pool. I would have no idea what procedure to follow.

Stockton did an inward flip for the first time today. I was really proud of him. That is something I will never, ever try.

Quick Trip

Last night I had every intention on not playing games . . . . but just as I was about to go to bed, Pace came over and the game playing was about to begin! The only problem was, Mike had gone to play games at a friends house and took all the Dominion games! I ended up teaching Mike and Pace how to play Settlers. That is a game everyone should know anyway. John liked it. I wonder if it is because he won his first game. Anyway, Mike came home and was able to play. I was good and went to sleep. John and Pace were able to get in one last game of Dominion.

This afternoon we took John to the airport. He is now back in Ohio. Boo! Once we dropped John off we went straight to Idaho. Cassie is going to stay with 'Momma Jones' for a few days. I dropped her off and 'Momma Jones' will bring her back on Friday. Ange was so nice and drove up with us. We made pretty good time and dropped Cassie and Mallory off a little before five. Ange and I then went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Parry. We were only able to stay for about an hour. Even though the visit was super quick, I really enjoyed it. Ange said several times how it was really hard to leave. Everyone loves Grandma & Grandpa.

I was very thankful Ange wanted to come along. It was nice to have someone to talk to, and it kept me awake. After dropping Ange off at her house, I got home at 10:50. Now I'm looking forward to sleep!

Blueberries

Turns out Mallory likes blueberries. She likes to eat them frozen too. Abby taught her that. Mallory could not get enough of them. We had a going away waffle party for John. Boy did Abby & Mallory LOVE the blueberries! I don't have pictures of Abby because I swiped Cassie's camera card again. The waffles were delicious. I had five. Oh boy, I need to climb back on the wagon.

Mallory

After waffles we stopped by my mom's grave. It was packed! They were having four funerals. The caskets were being pulled out of the hearse as we drove by. It was draped with an American flag. Bubs was able to walk straight to my mom's grave - even with it covered in snow. He went to the second tree, took six steps west then nine steps north. Quite clever.

John & Mallory

Cassie, Mallory, John

Dad, Steph, Bubs, John & Mallory, Cassie

I'm crouching so my head wouldn't be out of the picture frame.

Mallory

John, Bubs and my dad went to the BYU basketball game this afternoon. I drove John up and we got a quick picture in front of their first apartment.

Cassie, Mallory, John

Cassie then went with me to the pet shop. Two of Jorja's frogs died. One last night and one this morning. We had a seven day warranty, so I went to get new frogs. Hopefully these ones will last. Jorja is worried.

After the pet shop, we got Mallory's handprints done. Mallory was a pro at the beginning, then she got mad! That's okay. She's over it now and Cassie will love the handprints forever!

Stephanie, Mallory, Sherry

Pace is on his way over here to play games with John. I think I will go to sleep instead. I better hurry because once a game is started I know I will want to play!

Camera Card

When I sat down to do my blog today I noticed Cassie's camera card was in my computer. I loved this first picture of John & Mallory. I decided I would post it . . . . then I decided I would post about twenty more. We sure have been having a great time with them. The only thing I wish could have been different about this trip is I wish Matt & John would have been able to stay here together. They would have had a great time. Matt would have loved playing Dominion non-stop as well!

John & Mallory

Mallory

John & Mallory

John, Cassie, Mallory

Cassie & Mallory

Mallory

Matt, Mike, John, Steph, Bubs . . . how we spent our time

Dad . . . . how he spent his time at the cabin

Bubs & Mallory

Mallory & Larkin

Blake & Mallory

Larkin & Blake, Skye & Mallory

Mallory LOVES the piano

Matt, John, Bubs, Mike

Matt, John, Steph, Bubs, Mike

Back: Blake, Christen, Stockton, Maysen

Cassie, Sam, Jorja, Mike, Lincoln, Ange

Front: Skye, Mike, Larkin, Mallory, John

Preston, Matt, Abby, Steph, Bubs, Ella

Super front: Dad/Grandpa

Cassie, John, Mallory

Sam & Matt

Blake & Mallory

Blake, Stephanie, Mallory

Mallory

This has been such a fun couple of weeks! John, Cassie, Pace and I played Ticket to Ride. I lost, but not as bad as the loss this afternoon. I was winning by half a board and got too cocky. I tried to fill three new destinations, but couldn't get three lousy black cards. I lost 26 points and John ended up winning by two. Cassie went to bed and then John, Pace, Mike and I played a couple games of Dominion. So fun! We went to bed at 2:30. I hope these late nights don't catch up to me!