Family Visit & Children's Museum

We were so lucky to have my family visit for President's day weekend again this year.  And thankfully, it was much warmer than last year!  We had a lot of fun visiting the children's museum, playing games, celebrating birthdays, going to the temple, and learning all about eating healthily and multi-level marketing opportunities. :)  It was a blast.  Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Valentine's Day Party!

This year, I decided to try and pull off a tri-ward Valentine's Day playgroup party.  I know.  I'm crazy.  But last year, the Valentine's party was the first playgroup that I attended, and it was so great that we just had to do it again.  Our ward has split three ways in the mean time, so, this year, we just made it a tri-ward event.  But don't worry, I enlisted the help of a few fellow crazies to help me out, and it was a lot of fun!

With about 60 RSVP's of kids 1-5, we divided into 6 groups and rotated to various booths after making our valentine's mailboxes.  We had a crafts, music, fish pond, stories, valentine's exchange, and a "kissing booth" (photo booth).  Everyone brought a little something for a lunch pot luck afterwords and we had a great time.

Unfortunately, in the madness of running this event, (And Alan not being in the best of moods) I didn't get very many pictures.  But the few I have will have to do. :)

My friend Janet made this kissing booth. Isn't it so cute!

Alan and his valentine

Pot-luck lunch

And my friend Sierra helped to do the crafts.  

And I think all of the kiddos enjoyed the lunch!

Oh, and here is a picture of our heart pancakes on Valentine's Day morning.  Alan set the table all by himself and was so excited!

Recruiting at BYU

Not much over a year ago, it was me walking from booth to booth at the career fair in the Wilk(inson Student Center) trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.  This time around I was doing the recruiting.

A co-worker and I got to go back to Provo to attend the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics career fair that BYU puts on twice a year.  It was so fun to see friends and family who were in the area.  I got to go to the career fair, help host an information session, and interview students.

Janelle wanted me to capture lots of pictures; I should have listened.  I did get a few though:

When I got to the airport, it turned out they didn't have any small cars.
Then it turned out they didn't have any cars at all.
Instead, in typical Provo fashion, I got a mini van!

But not just any mini van. It was a snazzy mini van with
a touchscreen radio that turned into a backup camera when you went in reverse

I chose to stay at the Super 8 right across from Helaman Halls.
I really wanted to eat at the Cannon Center, but didn't get to this time around.
Even better, though, I got to have dinner with Jen and Taylor, and Jimmie, Emily. and Geoffrey

They had nice gifts for the recruiters like pens, water, a mint, an apron,
and I even was in the right place at the right time to get...

a ticket to the BYU v. Gonzaga basketball game.  We even won pretty good!
As I was leaving the game I saw cousin Matt and Jessica, Cosmo, and the victory bell

It was a fun trip, I'm really glad I got to go.  But, being gone for so long helps me realize what I really want to be when I grow up.  A husband, a dad... and a Cougars fan: Rise and Shout!

(Don't worry Janelle has more pictures on queue for the next post for the real reason you're here: to see our boys...)

School

So everyday for about a week, Alan has been telling me that he needs to go to school.  Apparently he wants to go to a school by Archer's house (a boy in our ward).  And he needs to walk there.  Never mind that Archer lives 1/2 hour away (driving), and never mind that Alan often wants to go to school at 5pm or on Saturday.  He is very emphatic and says that he just HAS to go to school now.  He brought up a little riding toy from the basement and packed a little lunchbox full of stuff (all by himself), and headed off to school one day.

He got to the end of the driveway and then tried to convince me to let him go in the street, but to no avail.

After he went to bed, I had to peek in his bag...

I always offered that we could do a little school at home, but he would never be convinced.  Finally he relented and we did a little schoolwork of our own.  And he loved it.  And the best thing about doing schoolwork at home is that you can do it in your pajamas.

Mr. Smiles

So we had a little post-nap photo shoot the other day.  I have about 20 pictures just like the ones below.  I wanted to put them all up, but they look exactly the same and I thought that would be ridiculous, so I somehow managed to pick 3.  I have never seen such a smiley baby.  I mean, he doesn't smile all the time, but when he's in a good mood... so many smiles!  And Alan can get him to crack up so easily.  He sure loves his big brother.  

In addition to the smiles, James has turned into Mr. Scooter.  He is everywhere!  I swear Alan hardly moved and really only crawled for a month or so before walking.  I thought it was because he was so big.  This little bugger is even bigger and still manages to do pushups in his crib and get stuck in all sorts of positions!  I imagine he will be crawling much sooner than we want him too...

Spitting is another favorite thing right now. :)

And this is about the cutest thing ever.  Alan will sit and read to James.  He's read to himself before, but I had never heard him read out loud.  And he can quote a good majority of the books.  I tried to get it on video, but it's too quiet to really hear.  (I was banished to the kitchen during the reading)  James, of course, is quite content chewing on a frog.