'Tis the Season

 March is birthday season for us!  It's fun to celebrate our birthdays so close together.  We celebrate all month long, which makes it just that much better.  It gives us an excuse to do and buy fun things---"well, it is our birthdays this month..." :) 

For my birthday, we went out to eat at the Olive Garden.  Mark spoiled me with beautiful tulips, a slapband watch, water bottle, cadbury eggs, croutons, and  flossers (hint hint to me).  What amazed me the most was how creative he was about giving the gifts.  He wrote me a birthday note and underlined several words.  Each underlined word was a clue to a gift.  I had to guess the gift from the clue before he would give it to me!  Way to go, Mark!  For dessert at home, we had ice cream brownie sundaes.  My favorite ice cream lately is Blue Bunny White Choc. Macadamia Nut Cookie.  Y-U-M.  He even put chocolate shavings on the top :)  Thanks for a great birthday celebration! 

 For Mark's birthday, he chose to have a special dinner at home.  Ribs, potatoes, salad, and cheesecake for dessert.  Mark loves strawberries so most of the time he chooses a dessert that has strawberries.  For his gifts, he received a coupon for Royals Game tickets, straps for a truck that we don't have yet but want, and a dutch oven for those camping trips that we plan to make but haven't yet :) 

It was a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY season for both of us!!! 

Utah Trip #1

 

"Jax, we're not in Kansas anymore.....or are we????"

 My dear sweetheart mother was in charge of the Grantsville Old Folks Sociable this year.  (If you're not sure what this is, look it up on Wikepedia--gives a pretty good explanation)  The theme was "Because I Knew You" from the musical Wicked.  It was a little ironic that we came from Kansas to an all out Kansan style Sociable :)  She did a great job with her duties and I had an excellent time seeing and visiting with friends and family.  We enjoyed delicious food and excellent entertainment.     

 We had a little birthday dinner for....ME!  We had some yummy homemade pizza and Kimi's Famous Carrot Cake.  I really enjoyed celebrating with my family.  It's just FUN to be with them!  I loved getting hugs from my adorable nieces and nephews and was totally pleased by my birthday meal and celebration.  Thank you!

 My parents and brothers went to pick up my other bro from his mission just 1 1/2 days after the Sociable.  After they left, Kimi and I did some sister-sister (along with some kiddos) stuff.  Jax LOVED the attention from his cousins.  They "babysat" him by singing, kissing, and playing with him.  

Austin even counted Jax's toes.  I thought it was super cute. (Nice harido, K!) 

 We also did a mini-preschool session with Mrs. Tew and her assistant Miss Lucy, at about 7 p.m. one night. The kiddos are learning to write their letters.  We did some writing in sugar and whip cream with our fingers.  Above, you see the kids covering their mystery letter so that we can all guess what letter they wrote "1, 2, 3..Show your letter!"  I told them not to lick their fingers until the VERY end but they of course had to sneak some licks while they thought I wasn't looking--that whip cream is just too tempting ;)

 Baby Cole and Jax just hanging out.

We also of course tried out some fancy hairstyles.  This is the double waterfall braid created by Kimi.  

3 Months

We're getting lots of smiles and even some laughs from our little guy.  He seems fascinated with his fingers and looks at them (and sucks on them) a lot.  His "baby gym" is a favorite as he lies down and looks at the rings and other toys that hang down.  He smiles when we do pat-a-cake.  We also enjoy the baby coos and other noises he makes.  He is getting close to sleeping through the night.  :) 

Aunt Gemmie gave him this adorable dino outfit with matching hat and mittens.  Thank you!  

Great Day!

We finalized our adoption on Feb. 27th!  YAY!  We even got a picture with the judge.  We were only in the court for just a short time, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and that was that!  We went out to The Chef to eat some yummy lunch and then had a dessert crepe bar get-together that night with some of our friends to celebrate this great day.  We are grateful for this miracle in our lives and are thrilled to have the adoption finalized!!!  We are so happy with our little boy!

Some surprise balloons arrived at our doorstep later that afternoon :)  Thank you Tripp fam!!! (They happened to match the sign I made perfectly--how did you do that?!)

Nauvoo Trip

 In my opinion, every Mormon needs to experience Nauvoo.  We learned a lot there about life back in the day, gained a greater appreciation (and desire to know more about) the early Saints, and the spirit there is amazing!  The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful!!!  Those people just sacrificed so much to move out from their town that they had worked so hard to establish.  If you get the chance, GO!  :)  Now that we've been in the winter time, I want to go back again in the summer for the pageant and to just see everything again.  I thought the above picture was pretty cool with the Joseph and Hyrum silhouette and the sunset going over the Mississippi in the background. 

 

Mom--this pic is for you--THE POST OFFICE :)

  

Shoe Maker

 

 Carthage Jail (one of my most favorite places we toured---very powerful)

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 Weaving...we were impressed with this. 

 Mark and I switched off so we could both go in the temple.  This pic was taken the day after, right before we headed back home.

Our little guy was such a trooper through it all.  He was an excellent travel buddy.  I thought his face was so funny and cute in this picture of him strapped in his car seat.  He does the "wide eyes" look a lot when I get the camera out. :)