Happy Valentine's Day!!

Kaya has been looking forward to Valentine's Day for at least 2 weeks now. Every night she would ask if the next day would be Valentine's Day. She came in our room to say good morning and when we replied, "Happy Valentine's Day" you can only imagine her excitement. We all got dressed and went out to breakfast. It was a nice treat. We came home to open our little gifts from the Grandparents and each other. We had a nice morning before Heather had to head off to work for the day. Aaron took today off so that he could watch the kids while Heather spent a full day at work. This is the largest floral holiday next to Mother's Day and Memorial Day. The grocery store's floral department has done very well since Heather took over in September. She has been extra busy this past week getting ready for the big holiday. Luckily she only worked until about 6pm - stopping on the way home to pick up kids' meals from Wendy's and Chili's To Go for Mom & Dad. Below are some pictures of Heather's work at the store for today. Aaron & the kids even stopped by to say "Hello" late in the afternoon. It was a long and busy day...

Princess Kaya & Princess Logan

Logan is a good sport and enjoys playing dress up with Kaya. He actually really likes wearing the princess shoes around the house along with her play necklaces. It freaks Aaron out a little bit (Logan dressing up like a girl) - but I tell him he'll grow up to be just fine. Look at Tom Cruise. He grew up with 3







sisters and turned out okay. My younger brothers endured years of being dressed up and having their hair done by me and they turned out normal!! These will be great pictures for someday when Logan gets married! The picture on the bottom is Logan giving "two thumbs up". He hasn't figured out how to put his thumbs up yet, but that's what he's doing for the camera.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

(Authored by Aaron) Today is Cheryl's (Aaron's Mom) 60th birthday! Mom has been alive for 21,915 days; or 1,893,456,000 seconds; or 31,557,600 minutes; or 525,960 hours; or 3130 weeks. What was happening 60 years ago when Mom was born? Let's zoom back in time and take a look.

The President of the United States was Harry S. Truman; The President of the LDS Church was George Albert Smith; Ghandi was assasinated by a Hindu militant; Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia; Israel became a nation and the Berlin Airlift began.

What has my Mom done since I've been born? She's been a grade school teacher, a homemaker, a housecleaner, worked for the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department Crime Lab; and currently works as an Administrative Assistant for the Ventura County Watershed Protection. More importantly though, she's been my mother, my caregiver, my chauffer, my cheerleader, and my friend.

One of my fondest memories of my Mom as a child was coming home from school on a rainy day to the smell of homemade bread, and enjoying a thick slice with butter and jam, complimented with a cup of hot cocoa. I recall many campouts with Mom and the family, as well as her being there to root for me at Little League games as a kid, and football games when I was in High School.

Mom became a grandmother ("Grammy") in 2004 when our daughter, Kaya, was born, and again in 2006 when our son, Logan, was born. I know she loves spending time with her grandkids, just as she does with her own children.

Today, Mom - Cheryl, "Grammy" - We express our love, gratitude, and appreciation to you as we celebrate your sixtieth birthday with you!

We love you!

Saturday excursion

Since we've been pounded with about 2+ feet of snow over the past several weeks here, today was the day we succumbed to our cabin fever and got outside. It was around 40 degrees today, so not too uncomfortable.

Aaron cleared all of the snow off of our patio, which took close to 2 hours. Heather spent a couple of hours at work, and Aaron made brownies. Once Heather got home, we got the kids ready and all piled into the car and headed north to Salt Lake City. We attended the "Soup's On!" geocaching event at the Utah State Fairgrounds, where about 40 people showed up. After an hour or so, we departed and headed east up to the State Capitol, and then down into the Aveneues towards the Salt Lake City cemetary.

Our main purposes for going to the City cemetary today was to try and find President Hinckley's gravesite, as he was buried there 1 week ago today. As we drove into the cemetary, we saw many large headstones and monuments. We stopped to look at one in particular, and found it was that of Wilford Woodruff, the 4th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Aaron marked the coordinates on his GPS and took a photo of the headstone.

As we continued north through the cemetary, we came across the graves of Heber J. Grant (7th President of the LDS Church); J. Golden Kimball (aka "The Swearing Apostle"); David O. McKay (9th President of the LDS Church); Joseph F. Smith (6th President of the LDS Church) and last, but not least, Gordon B. Hinckley (15th President of the LDS Church). We also saw a large monument dedicated to Hyrum Smith, older brother of Joseph Smith. Aaron made sure to get GPS coordinates for each site, and photos too. It was neat to see the graves and stand next to the markers, enjoying the silence and reverence that a cemetary commands.

Unfortunately, we ran out of daylight and were not able to locate any other graves of past Church presidents, so we hit the road and enjoyed a dinner out at Sonic Drive-In. We'll go back soon and continue our search.

We wanted to share with you photos of our day. Enjoy!

Sledding

Aaron took Kaya sledding today. This was only the 2nd time that she has been sledding. The first time she was probably only 19 months old and didn't know what to make of it. This time, she REALLY enjoyed herself as you can see in the video below:

Flashback Friday - Happy Birthday Joshua!!

Today is Joshua's 19th birthday. So in honor of Uncle Joshy, we dedicate this Flashback Friday to you. Joshua is Heather's youngest brother. Kaya & Logan loved having Uncle Josh in Utah for a semester going to school. Logan often sees young men Joshua's age/size and he thinks it's Josh. Joshua is the musical one in the family and has been blessed with lots of talents. We all think he's spoiled but he's grown up from a squeaky little kid to a handsome young man. We hope you have a great birthday!!

Did you know???

Do you know about green M&M's? A women came into the grocery store the other day and purchased a Mylar balloon that said "I Love You", 3 green helium balloons (That didn't even match the mylar balloon) and a bag of green M&M's. (Yes - They sell bags of only green M&M's for Valentine's Day) As it turns out, she was on her way to pick up her husband at the airport who was returning from serving 11 months in Afghanistan. Apparently, she was going to pick him up and head straight to a hotel for the night. (They have 10 kids at home!!! - We're they hoping for #11?) Anyhow - some of the clerks were a little confused about the green balloons and green M&M's. I vaguely remembered something about green M&M's from high school. I thought it would be interesting to see what I could find on the legend and share it with you. Here's a quick history:

"Green M&M's have long been the subject of myth as they are considered, by some, to have magical aphrodisiac powers. As to whether or not this is true is, of course, subject to interpretation. Curious as to how this myth may have occurred, we did a little research and learned the following fun facts about the color Green. According to Celtic myths, the Green Man was the God of Fertility. Green has long been considered a metaphor and symbol for fertility and this was evident in the fifteenth (15th) century as Green was the preferred color for wedding attire. The symbolism attached to the color Green continues today even though it has taken on a more modern meaning. The myth per Green M&M's was fueled in the late seventies and early eighties, as rock and roll performers , such as Van Halen, requested bowls of Green M&M's backstage. Adding to this myth, Masterfoods, in 1996, released a commercial asking "Is it true what they say about green ones?" There is no empirical evidence as to whether or not these fabled candies have magical powers but we do know that they taste great and are part of Americana candy lore."