Henry's Valentines

Here's Henry with his collection of Valentines from his Kindergarten class. I am just thankful he was well enough to go to school. He's been fighting a cold this week. Last Friday, 9 of the 19 kids in his class were out sick! I cannot wait for Spring! I think we're going to get a taste of it this coming week...the weather report says 53F on Tuesday! That's an 80F increase over just 2 weeks ago when we hit -28F. YEAH!

Introducing Samantha Mae Howell!

Here are a few photos of my trip to meet Samantha. She is super cute. My mom and I decorated the nursery as a surprise for DeAnne. I really wanted to paint but they will be moving around June so it wasn't worth the cost or effort. My mom and I made the quilt hanging on the wall, the curtains, and table cloth that you can see behind us. We also bought all kinds of cute things to go with the butterfly theme. It was so nice to go home and just be me for a little while.

Jeffrey's Valentines

Here's Jeff with his Valentines treats from his playgroup. He LOVES going to playgroup and loves it even more when we have here at our house. I realized after I uploaded the photo that I didn't wash his face after dinner very well, so sorry! :) Happy Valentine's Day! I'll post Henry's Valentine photos tomorrow!

Dustin's Old Ford Trucks

Have we started a collection? Maybe, maybe not!

Dustin came across this truck a member of the Base Housing Maintenance crew was willing to part with while I was away in Portland. He really, really, really wanted it. So when I got home we all drove out to see it and Dustin test drove it. It was his! We brought it home this past Monday and he did all of the basic maintenance he could do on it in one day...changed the oil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor, transfer case fluids, transmission fluids, etc, etc, etc....Dustin really likes that it's a 1977- the same year we were born! I think he was a little sad to leave when we went away to Idaho yesterday!

Now that we're back home and we've had a good snow, Dustin is really happy it's a 4 wheel drive, too.

I'm including a photo of Mater, too, just so he won't be too jealous of the new addition!

JIM BRICKMAN- IN CONCERT!

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE Jim Brickman's music. I have for a LONG time. His music got me through college and I still love it. He has more coming out all the time, too. I've just been too busy to notice lately. Anyways, my sweetheart surprised me with tickets to see him in Idaho Falls. We got a sitter for the kids and ran away to Idaho Falls for the night last night. The whole trip was wonderful! We enjoyed the hot tub at the hotel, got all dressed up and went to a nice dinner, and then went to the concert. We stayed after the concert for the VIP meet and greet so we got to meet him. YEAH! He seemed sincerely appreciative when we told him we had driven 5 hours to see the show and said he'd try to get to Great Falls next year. Something interesting he said during the show was that he loved to come to this part of the country and mentioned the "Utah/Idaho Corridor" because everyone loves music and plays an instrument or sings. Hummmmmm? Wonder why that is...........We were also blessed to be able to enjoy the music of Anne Cochran who sings on many of his albums and Tracy Sullivan, an electric violin player. I had never heard an electric violin and it was awesome! We're going to have to find some copies of his music to enjoy at home.

Anyways, he's still super cute and I told Dustin it's a good thing he stole me away from Jim Brickman. Hah! So here are a few photos from the meet and greet. Can't wait for him to come next year!

Wow, It's been a while!

Daddy Taught Jenna how to fold her arms for prayers while I was gone. It's soooooo cute!

HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY, DUSTIN!

I'm so sorry it's been almost a month since I've posted. Dustin is in the running for Husband of the Year this year...he surprised me with a plane ticket home- just for me! I got to spend 8 whole days at home with my parents and brothers and sister and he took leave to stay home with our little ones. I hope to have some photos of my new little niece and myself to post on here soon. I'm not the only spoiled one, though. Dustin got a truck for his birthday. Nothing new, of course, we're too cheap for that. He's pretty excited about it though. It's 11 years newer than his current daily driver. He's picking it up tomorrow so I'll be sure to post some photos of it, too. Well it's late. I wanted to be sure to get something on here so you wouldn't think I've given up on it!

Not for the Faint of Heart!

We just had to share this moment we had with little Jenna last night...Parents do such strange things, don't they? Anyways, Jenna sometimes happens to, well, poo-poo in the tub. So last night I ran and got the little potty seat out of storage and sat her tiny hiney (spelling?) on it. She was so happy sitting on it. She even liked holding the little handles. Then we thought we heard her utter a well known sound and then we thought we smelled a smell. Sure enough, Jenna used the potty! In the photo she's doing what she does whenever we say, "Yeeeeeeeah!". She puts her arms up and waves both hands. She's only 15, rounding the corner on 16, months old but if she's happy using it we'll set her on the potty seat every night! If nothing else, she saved us $0.22 on the diaper we didn't have to use!