Nursery

Kasidee's First Official Day of Nursery was yesterday. Can you believe she's that old already? It's been hard having her "sit" with me while I'm in Primary or "sit" with Quentin while he's in Elder's Quorum, so we've been kind of looking forward to the time when she could just go have fun in nursery. But once she was in there and my arms were free, I really started missing her! But I am SO thankful for such awesome nursery leaders - they go above and beyond their calling and want to make sure nursery provides a foundation of loving to learn the gospel for the kids (as opposed to feeling like it's just babysitting time). Kasidee did great - Quentin stayed with her for the first little while then left and she was fine. Sister Weaver said every once in awhile Kasidee would go over to her, tap on her legs and say, "Mama? Mama?" But she didn't cry. And when we picked her up at the end, she dropped everything, smiled SO big, and ran to us with outstretched arms....

And speaking of my baby getting big.... Yesterday evening we went to see my cousin Aaron's newborn little boy, Beau. My "baby" looked HUGE compared to him! Oh, he's just a cute little peanut. It's so fun seeing Aaron and Lisa as new parents. And little Beau is just so darn cute. It's just amazing how wonderful life is and how quickly time goes. It reminds me to be more aware and more mindful of the little things!!

Beauty & the Beast

This afternoon Quentin, Kiera, Makenna and I joined some of Quentin's family to see the play "Beauty and the Beast" at Woods Cross High School (thanks to Mom for watching Kasidee!). We all really enjoyed it - the costumes were incredible! It's fun doing something we all enjoy together and I hope the girls continue to develop a love of plays just like Quentin and I do! (P.S. Sorry for the red eyes - my photo fixer isn't working....)

Pretty Hair

Makenna was so nice to offer to do Kasidee's hair today - isn't it pretty? Oh, and yesterday in preschool they talked about what they want to be when they grow up. Makenna wrote on her paper, "When I grow up I want to be a little ladybug."

Happy Home Anniversary!

We moved into our home 2 years ago today. Happy Home Anniversary!! I'll tell ya, we LOVE it here. When we moved into our Farmington house in 2000 we planned on staying there forever, but then after 2 kids we realized it wasn't going to work for us forever. Through nearly 3 years of wondering, searching, and praying, we went through lots of ups and downs. We hated the thought of leaving our beloved house and the great neighborhood...we got excited about building in a couple different areas but it didn't pan out...we saw lots of homes that were nice but just didn't feel right.... Until we found this one. I knew it was "the one" pretty much the moment I walked in the door - I kept looking for something wrong but realized as I walked through it that it was perfect for us; everything we had been looking for. Quentin took a little more convincing (I prayed for comfort in being able to pass it up, but Quentin's mind started changing basically overnight and he's the one that said we needed to make an offer!) Anyway, I just am so happy that we "landed" in such a wonderful area and neighborhood, and we love our home. It's where our kids will grow up and we will grow old. Happy Anniversary, Home!!

Oh, and to make things even better, we were able to refinance and closed yesterday. Can you believe we got a 4.25% rate?! The ladies with the title company and the mortgage company said they've never seen anyone get a rate that low. Quentin just happened to call the mortgage company during a window of about 2 hours when the rate dipped lower than ever. Yahoo! So that new rate will save us over $250 a month. Awesome, eh?

Happy 94th!

Last night we went to Quentin's Grandma Stephens' 94th birthday party. I'll tell ya, she is just an amazing woman. So inspiring! She is always the life of the party, all dressed-up, with jewelry and high-heels. She's just so darn cute and makes whoever is around her feel good. She said she still feels young - it's everyone else that makes her feel old! She told everyone that she lives for us and that she wants to do things for us. In fact, she called Quentin's dad the other day and asked what he was doing. He said he was fixing himself some lunch since Barbara (his wife) was at work. Grandma Stephens told me, "I got off the phone with him and got to work. I made him some soup, some macaroni and cheese, and some potato salad." She handed us the bag and asked if we would take it to him. As I took the bag I thought, "Wait - this is what people should be doing for HER!" She's just so sweet. What an amazing example and an amazing life.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey there! Hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day! We started the morning with pink heart-shaped waffles, then went to Lowe's to make cute little jewelry boxes (and to see our friends there!). Then we took Valentines to Granny and Nana. Then (as per Quentin's suggestion), we went swimming at the Rec Center. The girls LOVE to go swimming, and it was a fun, different activity for a cold, wintry day. After that, we spent a romantic afternoon as a family, helping clean the church! It really wasn't so bad (Quentin told the girls it was a way we could show Heavenly Father on Valentine's Day that we love Him), and we rewarded ourselves afterward by getting Bajio's to go. We brought it home and watched Steve Martin in "Roxanne." Hope everyone had a fun day!

Project: Completed

I'm sure most of you have seen those little "File Folder/Quiet Folder" games floating around sacrament meetings - little gospel-centered games to entertain and keep kids quiet. They're something I've seen before I even had kids and thought were neat. Last year when I was on the Enrichment Committee, I had a great idea to have an Enrichment activity to work on these little folders. We had a great turnout and I thought I would be motivated to get them done. I chose 10 to make copies of and began working on them. Then put them away. And kept looking at them and feeling guilty for not finishing them. Well, this weekend the girls and I worked hard and finally finished them - well, 5 of the 10. And I figured that's enough for now. Those little buggers take forever to copy, color, cut, laminate, cut again, put magnets on.... But they're worth it. All 3 girls sat like angels during sacrament meeting today, plus Kiera began learning how to calculate 10% tithing. It's good to finally have them done! Maybe I'll eventually get around to getting the other ones done - someday.

Oops - I Did it Again

Hmmmm.... It seems like my hair and I go through a cycle: I let it grow out sort of long-ish, then get sick of it, cut it, hate it, let it grow out again, get sick of it, cut it, etc. etc. I guess I'm never really happy with how my hair is. Well, I did it again. I got my hair cut. I've been eyeing styles for a few months and chose the one I wanted - a shoulder-length "Bob" (yes, I know that totally sounds totally a mom-ish). Anyway, yesterday I took advantage of Quentin being able to watch the girls and I went to have it cut. Let me just say - whenever I get my hair cut, it always ends up shorter than I plan. I told the lady "Shoulder Length" - well, it's "Chin Length"...and the difference between shoulder and chin is quite big. Ugh. It's short. Shorter than I've probably ever had it. But whattaya do except wait till it grows out again?! I actually don't really mind the length as much as the fact that it's just so poofy (or fluffy as Kiera calls it) on the ends - it makes my hair look like a triangle. Notice I haven't posted a picture. I have to figure out a way to make it look halfway decent before I face everyone at church today. I've got 3 hours to work on it - wish me luck!

Draper Temple

This afternoon we got to go to the Draper Temple open house. We jumped at the chance for the girls to be able to go inside a temple. Since there weren't many good times left to choose from, we had to pick what we could and went this afternoon. Makenna skipped preschool, we got Kiera out of school 1/2 hour early, and Quentin took a half a day off work. It was a neat opportunity for us. The girls loved seeing the baptismal font, the bride's room and the celestial room. This will be something they won't forget.

Afterward, since we were already out that way, we stopped off at Ikea and had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Mmmmm! It felt like a vacation day!

Bragging Rights

Okay, so I have to brag. I just got off the phone with my mom and was telling her about Kiera's "Parent-Teacher Conference" (or whatever it's called nowdays) last night. I told my mom that I thought about writing about it on my blog but felt like I would sound like a proud mom bragging about my daughter - and my mom said I should! So here goes!

We are just so proud of Kiera! She receives lots of recognition for her politeness and genuine kindess toward others. And we're also thrilled at how much she enjoys learning, loves school, and just can't get enough of reading. She'll sit for literally hours at a time, devouring a book that she can't put down. Anyway, Kiera's teacher said that she is reading at a third grade level (remember - she's in FIRST grade) and is on a math level that is in the middle of second grade. Wow - I'm impressed. But it also makes me wonder - are all the kids doing this well; and if so, maybe the coursework needs to be stepped up a bit. On the other hand, if Kiera really is on a higher level, I worry that maybe she's not being stimulated enough at school. I'm thankful for the school's computer program and that each student can work at his/her own level, but still.... Whatever the case, we're just happy that Kiera loves learning and is just doing so well.

In other news, we have an announcement that probably no one else cares about but us - but we get to keep our trees!! A couple of months ago, Rocky Mountain Power came to our door and told us that they would have to remove the 3-4 flowering pear trees in our backyard - the trees next to our patio that are so beautiful during each season and which give us much-needed shade. They said they needed to remove them because of the power line overhead. We put in a refusal and have had 2 other representatives come to talk to us - and we got a little freaked out when we noticed our neighbor's 25-year-old weeping willow had vanished one day! But yesterday the forester for Rocky Mountain came out and told us that they reviewed our case and are willing to keep the trees trimmed (for free) and not have to remove them. I know it's silly, but I can't tell you how relieved I am! Yay!

Invention

Ever since she was just tiny, Makenna has always loved anything animal-related. But lately she's been fascinated with leashes. She'll find her stuffed animals, little lizards from the dollar store (one of which she named Pickle), little hampster erasers, you name it - and want to put a leash on it. Her leashes have ranged from bits of ribbon to my detachable purse strap to...straws that have been taped together. Hmmmm....