Love Day

Valentine's Day was filled with love, gifts, fun, and family time.

It all started on Friday, the day before Valentine's Day, when Baylor had her class Valentine's party. She loved buying Valentine's for each of her classmates and getting everything all ready for the big day. I was able to volunteer in her classroom for most of the day which was fun. They played some games and had a pizza party for lunch. She came home with a bag filled with Valentine's from her classmates and she loved going through them all.

The girls woke up on Valentine's Day to candy sprinkled down the hallway and a fun heart streamer to burst through to their gifts from us, Nona and Pops, and Grandma and Poppy on the table. Baylor and McCall were the first ones up and McCall was so excited and kept coming to get me up saying the sun is up. She just wanted to show me everything and was so excited about the gifts on the table.

They kept busy waiting for big sister to wake up.

Paige finally got up and then it was time for gift opening and gift giving.

Paige got a signed Benson Boone picture that Nate got online and she thought it was pretty cool. The picture on the right was her teenage reaction when I said she could hang it on her hall and kiss is every night before she goes to bed (just like Aunt Erika when did growing up with a big Justin Timberlake picture in our room.) :)

Folded heart from Nona.

Paige made this cute pillow to go in their room as a gift to them. She did a great job. Baylor in the morning quickly made some little Valentines to give to everyone too which was very thoughtful.

Paige made Nate and I these cute wooden heart and Nate and the girls got me this poster with some things that I love. It says, "Happy Valentine's Mom! We love you to the "Milky Way" and back! We're so lucky you are our mom, no ifs, buts, or "Andes". You're sweet like "Lindor Chocolates"! If we could, we would "White Out" every worry you have! You're so cool like an "Arizona" drink! Love Your Favorite People.

We had heart-shaped, pink pancakes for breakfast. I made some chocolate covered strawberries to give some to Nona and Pops along with some Valentine's and I enjoyed some myself that evening. We had our traditional dinner of spaghetti, salad, heart shaped cheesy toast, and pink Jell-O. It was a wonderful day spent with the people we love the most!

We did our traditional countdown to Valentine's Day and Nate and I wrote things we love about each of our girls. Each morning they woke up to a new heart on their door. 

Here's what we love about Paige:

- I love you!!! Love Dad

- You are true to who you are. You are a kind, genuine, person.

- I love that you love going to the outlet with me.

- I love our guess the music artist and conversations in the front seat.

- I love how beautiful you have become inside and out!

- I love shopping with you when we have time.

- I love your silly moments.

- You are so creative and you have beautiful hand writing.

- I lobe watching you learn new talents.

- I love watching you do gymnastics. You are so grateful!

- I love watching you grow in confidence.

- I love being in young women's with you.

- I love your kindness towards others.

- Happy Valentine's Day! We love you! Love, Mom and Dad

Here's what we love about Baylor:

- I love you!!! Love, Dad

- I love that you are always up for an adventure.

- I love when you are kind to your sisters.

- You are an amazing friend!

- I love your love for the outdoors and rocks.

- I love being in your class at school and seeing what a good student you are.

- I love how you are a trickster, to a point.

- I love your zest for life and you are full of fun and joy.

- I love your eyes when you smile.

- I love that you love science projects and math.

- I love seeing you excited and hearing you laugh.

- I love your dance moves and singing.

- I love how you love your family and grandparents.

- Happy Valentine's Day! We love you! Love, Mom and Dad

Here's what we love about McCall:

- I love you!!! Love, Dad

- I love the funny things you say.

- I love how you say Paw Patrol.

- I love that you are my errand buddy.

- I love how you cuddle with me.

- I love how polite you are.

- I love when you hide under blankets with me.

- I love doing preschool with you and that you are always excited about it.

- I love your funny faces.

- I love chasing you and your laugh when you are caught.

- I love how you can't stay still when we fake sleep.

- I love your random "I love you's" and hugs.

- I love watching you learn new things.

- Happy Valentine's Day! We love you! Love, Mom and Dad
 

Letter R

Letter R took a little longer to complete but we did it. At the end of last week, it got busy and so I only go around to a few letter R activities so we finished it up the beginning of this week since I wasn't planning on doing preschool with the girls off school all week for mid-winter break.

Day One: McCall started the letter R week off with tearing pieces of Red paper and then gluing it on the uppercase R.

Then she did a Rice sensory bin. There were letters, pom poms, and coins to find in the rice.

Day Two: She first created a Rain art project. She first drew some flowers and a person for the rain to fall on. Then she glued cotton balls on for clouds and last she painted the Raindrops with her finger in blue paint.

Then we did a Rainbow science experiment. She lined a plate with skittles and then she poured some hot water on them and watched her rainbow appear.

Day Three: Baylor was around and wanted to help so first Baylor asked if we had any Red food to try and we had Raspberries.

Then together they worked on a Robot. I cut out a whole bunch of different shapes and Baylor helped her create a robot.

Then I had some Robots to cut out and we worked on putting them in a pattern based off the colors.

Day Four: First we created a Rocket. She cut out the squares and then glued them in a line. She added star stickers and then she wrote her own name on each of the squares of the rocket. She can now write her own name and it is the cutest thing.

Then I had to leave for a bit and Paige babysat so I had them do Road play with McCall. Baylor took some pictures.

Day Five: We started off creating a Rabbit. I drew the uppercase R on a paper and McCall glued on cotton balls and drew on the ears and face for a cute letter R Rabbit.

Then to end our R week and we did some Rock painting. I suggested to do things that start with R or are the color Red. So of course, McCall painted one of hers blue for Chase from Paw Patrol and her other rock she painted Donald Duck's hat. :)

Letter Q

We made it to the letter Q! In church the other day, I was seeing what uppercase letters McCall knew and she could tell me all of them except 2. I was super impressed and I think this preschool stuff is really helping her out.

Monday, she first started out making a Queen out of the uppercase letter Q. She cut out the crown and added jewels to it and then made the cutest face, arms, and legs for her queen.

Then she went on a Quest. She hade to find the ingredients to make peanut butter cookies all over the house. Once she hunted them all down, we made the cookies together. She loves to help me bake and is an excellent taste tester.

Tuesday was our Quilt day. First I showed her a quilt that I had made. We talked about how you cut squares out and then sew them together to create a blanket or a quilt. Then she cut out pieces of fabric (which I ended up doing most of it because kid scissors don't cut fabric) and then she glued them onto the letter Q.

Then we did a quilt matching game.

Wednesday she did Q-tip painting. I first had her painted the uppercase and lowercase Q and then I let her create how she wanted.

Thursday our focus was Quarters. First I had to write the word quarter and then I placed quarters under the paper and she colored over the top of the quarters with crayons to create quarter rubbings.

Then I took the quarters and had her stack them and count them.

Friday was our Question day. I had her color and trace some question marks. I first showed it to her and I asked her if she knew what it was and she said a mystery. :)

Then I asked her 20 questions and I love her answers. They were so McCall and so cute!

- How old are you? 3

- What kind of birthday party do you want? Paw Patrol and Princess

- How old is Mommy? 2

- How old is Daddy? 18

- How old is Baylor and Paige? 8, 8

- What is your favorite color? Blue

- What's your favorite toy? Paw Patrol toys- especially Chase ones

- What is your favorite book? Paw Patrol Search and Find

- What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? Paw Patrol

- What is your favorite song? I love to see the temple

- What is your favorite thing to eat? Donuts

- What is something that you don't like? Ghosts

- Where is your favorite place to go? Play Group with Matilda

- What is your favorite animal? Cat

- What makes you sad? Bugs

- What makes you happy? Daddy

- What is something you're very good at? Painting

- What do you want want to be when you grow up? Tall like Baylor

- What is your favorite part of the day? Playing with Matilda

-Do you have any questions for Mommy? Can I take a bath with you? (I told her I was going to take a shower after preschool.) And then I asked her any other questions and she said "I love you Mommy!" 

Another great week of preschool!

Letter P

The letter P was a fun week. This is one letter she already recognized and she is getting better and better each week at remembering the letter we are learning from day to day and the sound it makes.

Monday we started off with gluing pom poms onto the letter P.

Then for our activity we did puzzles together.

Tuesday was all about popcorn. First, she created a bag of popcorn. She cut out the bag, painted the white stripes on her red bag, and then glued on cotton balls for the popcorn. Last, she painted the cotton balls with some yellow paint so that her popcorn was nice and buttery.

Then I showed her what a popcorn kernel looks like and we popped some microwave popcorn to enjoy for a little snack. We listened as it made all the popping sound as it cooked.

Then she did a popcorn kernel sensory fun and played with the popcorn with her Paw Patrol toys. Lots of letter P's in there!

Wednesday was our pizza day. First she created a pizza paper plate craft. She cut out the cheese and then painted red on her plate for the pizza sauce. She then put on "cheese" and "pepperoni". 

Then we did some pepperoni counting. I would put different amounts of pepperoni on a pizza that I printed off. She would then count the pepperoni and then we did that a few times.

And for lunch, McCall made her own pizza to enjoy. I used an English muffin as the base and we had some marinara sauce that she spread on. Then she sprinkled on the cheese and pepperoni for the perfect little pizzas.

Thursday we started off doing a parrot craft. First she traced her hand on a few different colors of paper. I cut out all the pieces and then she glued it all together. I showed her a few different pictures of real parrots to help with her understanding.

Then for the activity we played with playdough. We cut out different letters and McCall was so cute and using her elbow to smash the cookie cutters into the playdough.

Friday, she made a pig paper plate. She painted her plate pink and then cut out the different pieces to make a very cute pig.

Then to end our P week, I made a matching game with lots of different things that start with the letter P.

Another fun week of preschool in the books!

January Moments

We kicked off 2026 with some wonderful family time because Peyton came home from his mission in Ecuador! It was so sweet to be at the airport when he arrived and it was so sweet to get a  hug from him. He is one amazing guy and we had a few night with family before everyone had to go back to college and school.

We enjoyed the last thing to do for our Get Out Pass and went to the trampoline park. The girls always have fun and we are excited that we got the pass again for this next year to enjoy.

Our ward was in charge of a tri-ward amazing race. We pretty much had 3 days to plan and prepare it but we did it. The activity was so much fun and was amazing. We had about 30 youth show up which is a great number for us. I put a lot of time, thought, effort, and love into it and I love that it turned out.

The youth started by dividing up into teams and then each team had to find 5 little Jesus figurines that were hidden around the church. Then they had to either make homemade butter by shaking a small jar or heavy whipping cream or three team members had to eat a whole jalapeno. It surprised me that most of the teams chose to eat a jalapeno. So many of them came out of that room crying and running to the drinking fountain for some water. Then they each had to clean a panel of windows in the foyers, match the picture of the temple with the location, and then put the books of the Old Testament in order. Then in the gym there were three challenges to complete before finishing the race. They all worked together and it kept everyone mostly engaged. We had refreshments from around the world and it was a success!

Nate has been buying replacement Tupperware lids for year and he has listings where there is a whole bunch to choose from and he decided that it would be best for each of them to be listed individually. So we got all the lids out of the garage and I helped him get them all organized and listed. It took some time but was worth it.

Baylor got sick pretty much within the first week of going back to school after winter break. So she had some time at home with McCall and I and she made this Chase costume out of paper for McCall. It was very creative and even had a backpack that had wings that folded out so she could fly.

Then of course McCall caught the sickness bug which means falling asleep on the couch and Mom sleeping on the couch with her so she could breathe and so I didn't have to get up a million times to help her. It allows Nate to sleep since he has to work and I can be right by her whenever she whines throughout the night.

We have had some fun science experiments going on this month. A bird died a few months ago and has been in our yard and it finally decomposed down and Baylor thought that it's bones were so fascinating and she loved looking at them in her microscope she got for Christmas. Baylor also cracked open the two geodes she got for Christmas. One had quite a big of dirt it in that she had do wash out but the other was was gorgeous. And right now she is working on growing some crystals with a kit we found at the thrift store.

We have had some pretty nice days for January so occasionally McCall and I will make our way over to the park and feed the ducks, play on the playground, and enjoy the gorgeous view of the lake.

Baylor got a hold of the camera one day and took pictures of things that she loves. She has quite the collection of rocks and art in her room.

A few more pictures by Baylor.

Paige finished up her last year of gymnastics at the middle school level. She competed on floor and beam at the Varsity Meet and did amazing. Her team ended up getting third but was SO close to getting second. We went to an end of season banquet and Paige got the Coach's award. She loves gymnastics and is sad it is over.

Baylor and McCall kept busy on the bleachers while we watched the gymnastics meet. McCall loved going to the top and I got the top right picture and it reminded me so much of this picture I got of Paige (bottom right).

Paige loves to find recipes and new things to try and do on Pinterest and made these pretzel bites. They turned out so good and we ate them all in one sitting.

We were able to have our first youth temple trip of the year. It was one of our young women's first time going and it is always a sweet experience to see someone go through the temple for the first time.

We had another fun young women's activity of making homemade donuts and painting mirrors.

Paige has been wanting a guitar for quite awhile and my parents have one that they were willing to give to her. We originally were going to get it in April when we were going to meet up with them for spring break but then we met them in Boise for the dance competition so Paige got the guitar early. She is so excited about it and has been tinkering around on it and watching YouTube videos about it ever since.

We got to enjoy a 15 cent hamburger this week. Dick's has a special every year to commemorate their opening and you get to buy a hamburger for the original price when they first opened. So we got 5 hamburgers for less than a dollar which was incredible. We met up with our neighbors and enjoyed visiting and dinner in our van since it was cold outside.

Then we had our annual chopped combined youth activity. This was the first year that I got to be a judge and it was a fun experience. Paige's team won again and she has won every year since she has been in young women's. We'll see how long she can keep her record going.

One evening we went to the STEAM night at Baylor's school. Baylor has been looking forward to it all week. Baylor and McCall had lots of fun and did quite a few activities.

Friday evening, Nate and I went to the temple to support Mikey as he went through the temple for the first time. It was really sweet to be in the celestial room with family and ward members. It also made me pay attention more since I was wondering throughout a lot of it what Mikey was thinking being a first timer. We haven't done endowments for awhile so it was good for Nate and I to do that and I even printed off some family names to do. Paige was a rockstar and babysat for us. It is nice having a teenager in the house! She got them to bed and even had the house all cleaned up. She is a keeper!

Then to end the month of January, I went shopping with some of the young women and we got some hygiene items with money that was donated for our ward service project. For being a small ward, we got quite a few items to donate to Vine Maple Place.

Today was a beautiful day and it got up to 60 degrees! As a family we went to the park and walked around the circle while Paige and Baylor rode their bikes. It was sweet to play outside for a bit. We are ready for spring even though I'm sure February has other ideas.

Happy January!