Graduation!

Last weekend we got to celebrate Chris' graduation with his MBA. Lots of family came to celebrate and it was a fun day.

For those of you who think you really know Chris, see if you can find him in this picture. (Hint: He's sitting down talking on the cell phone because we were trying to find him.)

Small Miracles

I was talking to a friend this morning whose parents are missionaries in Japan (for those of you who are LDS, her father is the mission president in the Tokyo area). I called to see how they were doing because her mom is here in the States to help with a new baby. Besides a lot of stress, they're all doing okay, but she had a great story for me. At the time of the earthquake they were having a meeting (zone conference) with about 1/3 of their missionaries right by the mission home, so they knew they were all safe. Unfortunately, because transportation is down, they (about 70 missionaries) ended up camping out at the mission home. That's a lot of mouths to feed! My friend's mom always has lots of food on hand and often her husband complains that the cupboards and freezer are always so full, but when he was able to use that food to feed the 70 missionaries (since stores are either closed or out of food) he promised he would never complain again!

Now That's One Productive Saturday

I think that I recently hit my winter slump - just tired and struggling to do as much as I'd really like too (a lot like some of my students right now!). Well, the sun has finally come out, temperatures are warming up, and my motivation is back! (Unfortunately, although it's spring-like weather right now I don't think winter is finished with us yet.)
I did sleep in today (and pretty late for me because I got behind on my sleep), but that was the last of my laziness today. Here are a few things I did:
-Try out a new bread machine recipe. (Actually, try to fix one that failed miserably last time. The results were only mediocre so I don't know that I'll repeat that.)
-Make some homemade granola (YUM!).
-Aerobics
-Lots of laundry
-Clean house with my husband. (He cleaned the bathrooms while I vacuumed and cleaned up - don't I have a great husband?)
-Cleaned the humidifier. (Did I tell you that I'm ready for winter to be over with yet?)
-Ground lots of wheat. (I was worried that the aerobics would be too loud for our neighbors, but I'm sure it was nothing compared to the wheat grinder!)
-Made pizza for dinner. (I tried out a new recipe. It's nice because you don't have to let the crust raise, but I think mine tastes better.)
- Did LOTS of dishes. (Did you notice how much baking I did today? I decided that if I'd cook less then I'd have less housework to do.)
-Oh yeah, and swept and mopped up the mess of grinding wheat.
I'm feeling pretty good about that day (and definitely worn out). I did tell myself that I could take a break for the 20 minutes the pizza had to cook so that I could read my current selection from the library, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." I'm loving it! If you haven't taken the time to read it you really should.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Recently we had a birthday party for my niece who turned one. It was extra special because her birth family was there to celebrate with us.

Our niece with my sister Erica.

I'm not good at just picking out a few pictures, so here are a bunch of my favorites.

I thought it was extra-special that we could share this day with her birth family. They are such amazing wonderful people and I'm glad that she has so many people to love her!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Last Sunday we celebrated my Mom's birthday.

 (Getting some help opening her presents.)

 My little niece who is almost one has just learned to walk! This is her walking back and forth between her dad and Chris.
(I'm always a bit sad when babies learn to walk because then they don't want to be held anymore.) Now she's becoming a toddler!

It's hard to tell, but she was trying to stand on my leg (apparently that's more fun than standing on the floor!).

Quilts

Last spring I decided to make some quilts for my nephews that live in Florida. Well, I finally finished them and shipped them off for Christmas. So much work! But it was definitely worth it (I was tempted to keep them, but of course I didn't).

This one was ambitiously large (it's laid out on our queen-size bed and almost covers it). I loved the fabric.

Can you see the fun fish pattern that Chris helped me pick out? The colors were rather bright, so matching them made for a pretty bright quilt. But kids like bright colors, right?

Catch up

Obviously school started again and I pretty much stopped posting to our blog. Here are some fun things that happened last semester (and yes, my school year is officially half-way over!).

 Happy Birthday Christa!

 

Check out that adorable grin! Isn't our niece a cutie?

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Check out those tonsils! (And yes, she was a bit envious that her little sister gets to use "her" high chair, so she was trying it out again.)

My younger sister was in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" at the Hale Theater. We were able to go see her the same night as some of my sisters. She did an AWESOME job and we really enjoyed the show.

Happy Birthday Dad! (Yes, we had just a few birthdays!)

If you look closely, you'll notice that he's holding his grand-daughter, has the dog on his lap, and is blowing out his candle. Now that is multi-tasking! (Or surrounding himself with the ones he loves, it is his birthday after all!)

 My cousin and her husband recently adopted their second child and I was able to go be at the sealing.

Over Christmas break I caught up on my sanity and did a lot of baking (poor Chris, the kitchen was almost always a disaster, but he enjoyed my creations.) This was the cheesecake I made for Christmas. Yum.