Happy Leap Year Birthday!

 

My Dad celebrates his "15th" birthday today.  I thought it was so cool growing up and my Dad only got a birthday once every four years.  

My Dad is one of a kind.    He is a wonderful Dad and Grandpa!

He has always taken the time to play with us.  He would work hard and then come home and take us to do fun things. 

 He taught me how to fish and has since helped to teach each of our kids how to fish also.

 My Dad works really hard.  He started up his own wireless internet company and he taught himself everything he know about computers and the internet.

 My Dad loves to learn.  He know Tahitian and French fluently and can speak/understand quite a bit of Spanish and Portuguese.  

 My Dad is one of the most generous people I know.  He and my Mom are constantly looking for ways to serve and help us and anyone around them.  

Together with my Mom, my parents have been wonderful examples of how parents should be and of selfless love.

My Dad takes good care of himself.  He still exercises almost everyday.  Up until a few years ago he could still do a round off back handspring.

I am grateful for my Dad's testimony.  I had the opportunity of being taught by him in early morning seminary.  He knows so much about the Gospel and also is an example of it.

I have a picture of my Dad singing with all of our kids just like this.  

I am so grateful for my Dad and the strength he has been to me since Andrew died.  He is full of so much empathy and love.    

  My Dad always took the time to read to us or sing to us every night he was able to put us to bed.  

I'm grateful I was blessed with being his daughter.  

Pictures Update

We had our mid-winter break this week and it has been nice to just spend time together and have no where that we have to be.   

We went to Wenatchee for a quick trip to visit with Eric's sister and her family.  Our kids enjoyed the time with their cousins they don't get to see very often. 

 Jared has been wearing any hat he can find (he especially likes cowboy hat) and climbing onto everything.

Jared is getting busier everyday.  He loves to get into the pantry and get into whatever he can open.  It is getting harder to keep him out of stuff now that he can open all our doors...

 Tanner cracks me up.  He loves to make people laugh and most of the things he says, he says to get a reaction.  He and Travis are always trying to get the other to laugh.  

 We have played a lot of blocks this week.  Jared is getting good at building his towers.

 It has been nice to have an extra playroom out in our garage.  The kids will entertain themselves for hours with the dress up and play food in their little world.  Aubree is always the mom, Travis is the Dad, Tanner is the baby, Jared is the big brother, and if Eric or I get involved, we get to be Grandpa and Grandma.  

 "Mom and Dad/Tiger"

We had some good friends from Spokane come and stay with us for a few days.  The kids had so much fun playing David and Lucy.   

 Not just one, but two pictures of me in this post.  Lucky...  Aubree told me this week that Sara dresses better than me in her scrubs, because I always dress like a boy.  I haven't been the best at getting dressed up and wearing make-up since Jared was born, then Andrew dying, and then getting pregnant again in there.  I have big goals after this guy is born. 

 Travis found Aubree's face paints and the kids have had fun painting their whole entire bodies.  Sara painted Travis' face this time, but all the rest was he or Aubree.

 Jared is growing up too fast.  I love watching him toddle all over the house.  He has the cutest/thickest little body.  Sare put some of Tanner's shorts on him and he thought he was so cool.

Travy on day 2 of painting himself.  His favorite part was painting his paws (hands and feet).

Tanner wanted his face like a vampire, so Aubree helped him out.

 

 We have been having fun playing outside. 

Jared loves the bubble blower.

 

Tanner painted his face to look like a tiger, too. 

Travis thought his face looked exactly like a tiger.

 Travis has been getting better and better at his drawing.  He draws all day long.  Tigger is on the left and Special Agent Oso on the right.  We have hundreds of tigers scattered around our house too.

Miss this boy so much...

"Each of us will have our own Fridays-those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces.  We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again.  We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death-Sunday will come.  In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.  No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come.  In this life or the next, Sunday will come."

--Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Sunday Will Come", Ensign, Nov. 2006, 2

Valentine's Day

I need to get back in the habit of weekly posts.  The weeks are going by really fast and I don't seem to be taking as many pictures.  I am now 31 weeks and everything is going well.  His "womb" is getting more cramped and the kicks aren't as fun to feel as they used to be.  Somedays it feels like he is doing pull ups on my rib cage.  It is getting exciting that we will have our new baby boy in the next  7 weeks (crossing my fingers).

We start church later this year, so we took the time to get some pictures of Jared before church on Sunday.  He starts nursery in about 6 weeks and I can't believe how fast he is growing up. 

Jared has the last four of his teeth all through now and is still a constant drooler.  He loves animals and makes the cutest animals sounds.  Whenever we are outside and he sees a bird he will say, "wow".  He is saying it in the picture above.  He went straight from walking to running and loves to "exercise" in our garage.  We have a 3lb kettlebell that he uses to do the cutest kettlebell swings with.

 Cute boys before church.

 I love these pictures of Travis.  When we went to check on him last week he was holding his tiger on his chest and had his finger in his sword.  He is also wearing his spiderman pants.

Sara has a Texas Rangers ear warmer that she wears for soccer that Travis found and wore for at least three days (because it has a T on it). 

We had beautiful weather for a few days and made a trip to the zoo.  They had a miniature donkey out that we could pet.  

Notice Trav is wearing ear warmer... 

 We attempted a photo by the gorillas...

At the start of the New Year we started a "wise choice jar".  Instead of earning tickets on their own, they have been working together to fill a mason jar up with marbles (gumballs).  Aubree picked the first reward and it was a trip to Menchies for frozen yogurt.   

One of our photographer friends had a fun Valentines photo shoot at her house.  

 Classic Trav

 Jared wanted nothing to do with a being in a picture and doesn't like being that far away from me.

Tanner asked me this week when Andrew was coming back down from heaven.  Aubree "gets" it all, but Tanner is now starting to ask more questions.  He was talking about how much Andrew would have on his bunk bed and how much fun he would have with Jared.  We are so grateful to be able to know where Andrew is and have the comfort that we will see him again.  I can't wait to kiss those lips!