Circus

The Jordan World Circus is in town!

They had tigers...

...and elephants...

...and bears.

The kids rode on the back of an elephant...

...& we got our faces painted!

Saxon informed me that I needed to be a Cheetah.

(Berkley, Savanna, Me, Maddox & Saxon)
Hooray for the Circus!

A few Things

On Martin Luther King Jr. day, I got to go bowling with some of my family.

My mom got 4 strikes in a row & wasted us all.

Way to go Mom!

Last weekend, we went with Mike to a rodeo up in Ogden.

During the National Anthem, I noticed a girl behind us had tears streaming down her face. Her friend next to her wrapped her arms around her & just held her while she cried.

Jeff & I decided later that her husband is probably in the military.

It made me start thinking about how grateful I am to live in this country. How grateful I am to the men & women around the world who leave their families & are sacrificing their lives to fight for our freedom. I wish that I could thank them all personally for what they are doing.

I had a conversation with a guy at work the other day about this. We started talking about the people in Haiti & how much they are suffering right now. I ask myself often why I was lucky enough to be born in this country, where I have everything I could ever need. I think that I take that for granted a lot. I want to be better at showing my gratitude for all that I have been given by dedicating my life to serving those who are less fortunate than myself. I saw a really cool widget on a friend's blog the other day, raising money to send to Haiti. What an awesome way for all of us to be able to help! If you would like to make a donation click here. Every little bit makes a difference!


Jeff's grandparents invited us up to their house for dinner on Sunday night.
After dinner Caitlin, Mike & I were still at the table listening to Grandpa & Grandma tell stories. Caitlin had never heard the story of how they met & asked them to tell it.
(She wrote the whole story out on her blog, if you want to read it click here.)
It was so much fun to hear their stories & to think about what they were like at a younger age. Such an entertaining night! We all laughed a lot.
I always love spending time with Jeff's grandparents, but I think this was definitely one of my favorites!

Great Grandma Mary's Obituary

Mary Ellen Hansen Palmer

Mary Palmer, 90, passed away Thursday, January 21, 2010, at Amber Lane Residence in Boise surrounded by loved ones. Mary was born to Nels Hansen and Maggie Ann Pritchett Hansen on October 26, 1919, in Hill Spring, Alberta, Canada, the fourth of eight children. The family moved back to the United States when she was 11 years old and settled in Idaho. Mary was probably best known in Boise as the owner and operator of Mary's Beauty Salon for many years. Among her family, friends, neighbors, and fellow church members, she was often performing acts of kindness and service. She is survived by her three children, Sonja Kland (husband, George) of Fresno, California, Robert/Bob (wife, Carolyn) of Boise, and Diana Buresh (husband, Joe) of Boise; two of her sisters, Bertha Palmeri and Martha Veatch of Boise; and one of her brothers, Wilford Hansen of Logan, Utah. In addition, she is survived by a large posterity of grandchildren and great grandchildren. The family would like to express their deep appreciation to Kim and all those at Amber Lane for their loving care. Thank you Align Hospice for helping us through the last few days. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 30, 2010 at Relyea Funeral Chapel. Burial will be the following Monday, February 1st, 10:00 a.m. at Morris Hill Cemetery.

Picture Frame Craft

One of my very favorite craft blogs is Shanty2Chic. They are so creative over there! I love everything they come up with!

I showed Melinda this blog & she fell in love too :)

Last night we copied one of their ideas.

First we bought a bunch of frames at the dollar store & spray painted them. (Mine-black, Melinda's-brown)

While those were drying we used spray adhesive to glue burlap to the glass from the big frame.

We wrapped the edges around to the back & used hot glue to glue them down. While I was doing this, I went to pick up the corner of my frame to turn it around (non-aggressively) & it literally broke right in my hand! So I ended up wrapping the cardboard from the frame in burlap instead.

While we were waiting, we also mod podged scrapbook paper onto these stars. I think they turned out so cute!

When the frames were dry, we arranged the little ones how we wanted & then hot glued them & the stars to the burlap.

Then we glued these little clippies inside the frames to hold the pictures.

We were at my parents' house & I didn't have any pictures with me, so I took a few off my mom's magnet board just to show kinda what it is supposed to look like. (It'll have bigger pictures in the bigger frames of course)

Here's Melinda's all finished.

TA DA! We love them :)

Date Night

Last night we went up to Salt Lake for a date night with one of Jeff's mission companions & his wife.

We went to Chili's for dinner, then went back to their house & played bowling on the Wii to get warmed up for some real bowling!

Justin & Michonne

Jeff won & I was #2!

Check it out, I got 3 strikes in a row! :)

We have so much fun with these guys & are so excited they will be moving down to Eagle Mountain next week, so we will be able to see them more often!

Basketball

Jeff is playing on a city league basketball team with his brother & cousins.

They have played 4 games now (I think) and have only lost one!

I love being able to go & watch him do something he loves so much!

California Trip

Last week I got to go to Fresno!

Both of my parents grew up there & I have a lot of family who still live there.

My family & the Jonathan & Julie family were all heading out there the week after Christmas & I wanted to go too!

I wanted Jeff to come, but he couldn't take work off :(

Marshall, Mckay & his girlfriend (Megan) drove out there Saturday.

My parents, Melinda, Matt & Maggie and Jonathan's family drove out Monday.

I drove all night Tuesday & got there early Wednesday morning.

Melinda & I stayed at Rodney & Amy's house, so we got to play with the kids a lot, which was so fun :) I miss them.

I was sleeping on the air mattress & they loved to use it as a playground during the day.

Melinda getting ready :)

We spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house just hanging out with everyone.

And playing four square :)

Everyone waiting in line.

 

 

 

Melinda & Ryan

On New Year's Eve we all went to lunch at Me N' Ed's.

Best pizza in the world!

 

 

Then we went over to my aunt Darlene's house & watched The Blind Side.

 If you have not seen this movie, go NOW!

I love love love it!

Alyson did not like Mckay. This was the only time he held her without her crying. We distracted her with my phone.

Melinda & Megan made Muddy Buddies for us to snack on while we played games on New Year's Eve.

 

 This game was NOT fun.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's day was Ashtyn's first birthday, so we had a little party for her.

 She was so funny & just used her 2 little fingers to pick at it for a bit.

 

 Then she held onto it with one hand while she used the other hand to eat little pieces.

 

Then she just dug in.

All the people squished in the kitchen to watch her...

 

 

 

 

Party poopers.

 

 

Grandma Eileen & the birthday girl.

Jacob, Alyson & me right before I was leaving to go home.

Love those kids :)

Fresno feels like a second home to me & I always love when I get to take a few days & go visit.