Mr. Smarty Pants...

Estin's Birdhouse...

Today we made a birdhouse together. Estin always watches the neighbors birds that flock around their birdhouse, so we decided to make one of our own. We went to D.I. and found one that was already painted. I took it home and spray painted it white so Estin could make it his own. I added a small box in front to hold the seed. Estin can't wait for the birds to find it!

What Cuties!!!

The BEST Time Of The Year...

I LOVE VALENTINES DAY!!! I love the candy conversation hearts, the homemade mailboxes full of heartfelt sentiments. I love the pink and the red; I love seeing roses and flowers and chocolates and teddy bears. I LOVE it ALL!!! It's exciting that Estin is getting to an age to actually enjoy the festivities too... Feb. 14th the Love Bug came and left presents!!!

Just chillin' out with his new train whistle (after an obvious lunch of chicken nuggets & ketchup! :))

When Justin was a boy, his grandma had a Cracker Dog. He's spoken of it often, and try as I may, I've looked and looked to find one for him. Well as luck would have it, the week before valentines day while shopping at D.I. my mother-in-law found one for me!!! I was SO excited!!! Justin's reaction was priceless.

My BEAUTIFUL flowers from MY love bug!!!

Valentines Adult Dinner...

Every year Justin's family has an adult only dinner. It's a favorite of mine because we get to have adult conversation...UNINTERUPTED!!! :) Each year we switch...the women decorate a table and the men prepare the menu or vise versa. This year I had a lot of fun coming up with an 'Alice in Wonderland' theme... funny enough my sister-in-law, who's married to Jusitn's twin, also came up with Alice in Wonderland! :)

Justin's on the right ;)

Tender Mercies...

I just wanted to share an experience Justin and I had this week that reminded us that Heavenly Father is very aware of each of us... As many of you know, since Justin went back to school we have been on a pretty tight budget. We've been living off of the "envelope system" from month to month to stay on track. Several weeks ago I thought I had given Justin our envelope with our remaining tithing money. It held 2 more months worth of tithing to be paid in Jan. and Feb. Well, needless to say, it was NOWHERE to be found! With January's tithing coming due, we decided to go ahead and take money from another bill to pay our tithing so it wouldn't go unpaid...this left us short for other expenses. I knew that Heavenly Father knew our circumstances and would bless us for our efforts...however, since he knew, it never even occurred to me to pray and ASK him to help us find the envelope. Well, things were getting tighter financially and finally out of desperation I thought maybe I should pray and physically ask for help. After getting up off my knees I went directly to the closet to search Justin's suit pocket for the 50th time. Still I found nothing. After deciding to go downstairs to check the coat closet, I stopped to pick up an empty mug sitting on my nightstand to take with me to wash. As I picked it up I moved the book it was sitting on, and THERE WAS THE ENVELOPE!! Talk about a QUICK and DIRECT answer to prayer! I learned or was reminded that... Heavenly Father does loves us and is mindful of our needs but often times He needs us to do our part and ask for what it is so that we can exercise our faith and see His hand when He answers. "Behold, ye have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when ye took no thought save it was to ask me.....Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive..." Doctrine & Covenants 6:5, 9:7