Happy Birthday Heather!

Monday was my actual birthday.  Keeping to tradition JJ picked up some donuts on his way home from seminary.  The kids love the birthday tradition.  Even though we felt like we had so much sugar from cake the night before we knew the kids would be bummed if we skipped donuts.  Nolan and I headed to the gym and then to a parents as teachers activity.  It was a fun transportation themed activity.  He liked the activities a little better then the valentines day activity.  Still he just seemed to have a short attention span with the whole thing.  We did almost all the activities for as long as he would and then headed home. 

 During the day it was so fun to receive messages and phone calls from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday.  JJ came home for lunch and brought me some flowers.  When he was finished with work we headed out to eat at Red Robins.  I brought some card games to play as we waited for our food.  We played some "go fish" and "crazy 8" and the kids really enjoyed it. 

We had a little bit of the cake left over so when we got home from dinner we put a single candle in it and they sang to me.  Nolan was so mad the whole time they were singing and then blew the candle out.  We had to light it again so I could blow it out.  He has been so funny about my birthday.  He keeps talking about how his birthday is next.  I think he is really excited.   

 The kids were so excited about celebrating my birthday.  Especially Lucy and it was so sweet.  She started working on a present for me a while ago and couldn't wait to give it to me.  She made me a coupon book and a necklace.  You could just see how proud she was about her gift and I loved it.  I especially loved how thoughtful she was about the whole thing.  She is such a sweetheart and I am so thankful for her and her sweet spirit in our family.  

 Garrett is sweet too and was excited to give me some lotion he picked out.  He said he smelled all the lotion and that was his favorite.

 JJ got me a nice new purse and together we want to go shopping for some new running shoes.  I am looking forward to getting a new pair, both my pairs are just about done for.

I had a great birthday and felt loved all day!  I appreciated all the efforts so many people made to make sure I felt special.  Especially JJ, he always works so hard to make sure my day is great.   I m excited to see what 34 has in store for me.

Birthday Celebration

 Sunday evening we started the birthday celebrations!  My birthday was Monday but we knew having the family up to celebrate would work better on Sunday.  I made lasagna and put it in the oven on timer so it would cook in time to eat when we got home.  Having afternoon church is hard sometimes but we had almost everything ready by time we went to church.  JJ worked hard on making a cake for me.  I found a few cakes that looked good on Pinterest but really wanted this Dark Chocolate turtle cake.  JJ said that was the cake he wanted to make for me.  It was the most time consuming and difficult cake I have asked for but it was amazing. Everything was made from scratch, even the caramel sauce.  It looked impressive and tasted amazing.  Everyone helped bring some sides to go with our lasagna and dinner was also delicious.   

 

I blew out all 34 candles!

 We had a nice evening with everyone.  We enjoyed visiting as we ate dinner and sat around together.  I opened some nice presents and got some gift cards.  I am looking forward to shopping!  We played some Pictionary with everyone.  Garrett and Tyler had fun playing the Wii together.  It was a lot of fun to get together.  I was so thankful everyone came to celebrate me and spend time with me.  I loved starting the birthday celebrations early, it made my birthday last longer.   

 

Lucy had her last basketball game Saturday morning.  Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer her on.  They played really well and I was so proud of Lucy for playing so well.  She has been working really hard on lay ups.  She is constantly shooting hoops and working on things outside when we play out front.  She had set a goal for herself to make a lay up and she was so proud of herself that she made one during her game.  She really enjoyed playing basketball this year.  Hopefully she can do a basketball camp this summer.  She got her medal after the game and didn't take it off all day. 

The weather was beautiful on Thursday, it was suppose to be freezing cold the next day so we knew we needed to get out and enjoy it.  We always pass this park on our way to the gym each morning.  That morning Nolan asked if we could go to the big playground as he calls it.  When I finished my class at the gym we headed over.  He was so excited!  It is a big park and I don't like to take all the kids there by myself because it can be hard to keep a good eye on them.  With Nolan I can follow him around closely.  He loved climbing on everything and did such a good job.  It was cute to watch him want to interact with the other kids.  He is so use to be Lucy and Garret involving him in playing he kept wanting to be easily involved by some of the older kids.  We had fun running around together and climbing on different things.  We stayed for a long time and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine.  He told me his favorite thing was running and climbing.  We can't wait for the weather to warm up and stay warm so we can have more park days together.   

Making Cookies

When I was growing up it always seemed like we made cookies on Sunday.  I love cookies and love eating them warm out of the oven.  We would always bag a few cookies up so we could take them in our school lunch the next day.  We usually make treats on Sundays at our house.  It isn't always cookies but we look forward to making a treat and enjoying it together.  Sunday I put the mixer on the island and everyone helped make some peanut butter cookies.  It was so cute to see how excited they all were about them.  Nolan helped pout things into the bowl, Garrett rolled the dough into balls and Lucy smashed them down with a fork.  We all helped eat them, they were yummy!

chalk town

It seems as if spring has sprung, although we are still having some cooler days.  We are starting to have more and more warm days.  We love it and love to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.  Saturday morning Lucy played 2 basketball games back to back.  We dropped her off and came home to go for a quick job.  Garrett likes when I go for a jog, he has fun riding his bike next to me.  We finished and made it over for her second game.  It was fun to see her play, she does well and loves playing.  We came home and never went inside.  The kids drew a chalk town in the cul-de-sac, they each have their own house.  They also drew a gas station and a store.  I work the gas station and pump the gas for everyone.  They ride around and play forever.  I love it, these are the fun things their childhood memories will be filled with! 

ENT

I made myself an appointment months ago to visit my ENT for my Meniere's.  I sadly had to reschedule it when we all got sick and I couldn't make my appointment.  Friday my appointment finally came.  It has been since 2012 since I have seem my Dr. for my ear.  I have generally been doing well until about 8 months ago when my ear clogged back up.  I keep thinking it will unclog and I will be able to have another nice stretch of feeling really good.  When I had a recent physical my doctor suggested seeing my ENT and seeing if we could get things unclogged.  I was looking forward to hearing what he would suggest and what he would say.  I was able to have a bunch of test done to see how I was doing.  I was sad to see that things have regressed a significant amount.  I think I knew deep down they had.  I could tell these past months I wasn't doing well and things weren't getting better.  It is still hard to see that actual amount and to have things verified.  I know my Dr. is good at what he does but he isn't very personable and doesn't sugar coat things.  He put me on some medication that will hopefully improve things for me.  JJ was able to come to my appointment.  He hasn't ever been able to make it to any of my ENT appointments, he is always babysitting so I can go.  I am thankful for his support and coming with me to my appointment.  We knew it would be challenging to take Nolan, and it was, but it was good for JJ to hear how tings are for me.  My appointment was long and we were there forever.  During my test JJ bought Nolan some skittles from the vending machine, he loved them and helped keep him busy for a little while.  I am hopeful things will be able to improve for me, it is hard to think of damage being permanent at a young age.  When I get discouraged it is helpful to count my blessings.    

 

The kids room at the gym celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday.  They made these cute cat in the hat masks with the kids.  I think it is so fun they do things like this with the kids.  I don't do anything special at home to celebrate it.  Nolan loved his mask!

Blessing Griffin

Sunday (2/26/17) we headed to Jacksonville Illinois to be there for Griffin's baby blessing.  Lauren and Braden have been so patient with scheduling the blessing.  We have tried to have his blessing a few times and either weather or sickness has prevented it from happening.  We had two ice storms which both fell on the weekends we wanted to have the blessing.  We also all took turns passing the stomach bug an flu around.  Thankfully the weather was good and we were all healthy!  It was so nice of them to make sure we could all be there.  Jacksonville is about 2 hours away and they have church at 10 AM.  We got an early start and were able to get there just in time.  Braden gave Griffin a nice blessing and JJ was glad he was able to be part of the circle.  Griffin is such a sweet baby and slept the whole blessing.  They had a nice church meeting and then we took some pictures with everyone.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Courtney Boyce who is a childhood friend is now in Lauren's ward.  It was so fun to see her!  Our families were good friends and her Dad was our bishop for many years.

 

 After taking some pictures we went to Lauren and Braden's for a nice Chili and cornbread lunch.  It was so good, we were all hungry from leaving early.  It was nice to hang out and visit with everyone.  We had fun holding Griffin, he was laughing and talking a lot to us.  It was so cute!  It has been almost a year since we have been to their house and it was fun to see some projects they have completed at their house.  Braded added another bedroom and a theater room in their lower level, he did a great job and it looks nice. We headed back late afternoon and were home early evening.  It was a nice day with family and I am glad we all live close to be able to support each other in events like this.