Stairwell Gallery

I have finally finished a few projects that have been on my list forever. One of them was to decorate our stairwell. The two big walls on either side were begging to be used. I knew I wanted one side to be a family history wall; the other side ended up being a missionary wall. I am pleased with how it turned out. The pictures are not good because I can't get far enough away to take a decent one, so you'll have to come see it in person to fully appreciate it. There 's still some room for expansion, so if you have any cool old pictures, send them my way

Sibling collage

Grandma and Popee collages.

One of these things I got from the basement the  last time we were in Wausau.

Some old pictures we rescued from Uncle Bud's house.

By the way, why are frames so expensive? Even the cheap plastic ones are ridiculous. Thank goodness for dollar stores.

Birthday Week

                                           

Last week was birthday week at our house, starting with Andrew's on Tuesday. Since he sticks anything he can in the peanut butter jar and asks for peanut butter on his hot dogs, I made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It was quite tasty.
                                           

He got a big boy bike for his birthday. It has a special vrooming feature and so far, that's the only part that's been used.

For the past couple of months, every time he says a prayer, it goes, "Thank you for this day, I know you live in heaven.....now what?"  He has also been asking a lot of "how" questions.  How do airplanes work? How do pipes work? How do birds fly?  We've watched some educational YouTube videos.

                                                
On Saturday, we celebrated Grace by swimming at the YMCA and having Dunkin' Donuts since I didn't feel like making (and eating) another cake. No one complained.

Grace likes squeezing herself into small places, taking things off shelves and out of drawers, and climbing stairs. She loves Preston and Lauren and gets super excited when she sees Lauren walking down the sidewalk from the bus stop.

                                                   
The past year with Grace has been tiring, but we think (hope) that we've finally figured out that the way to get her to sleep through the night is to put her to bed at 6:30. She's up by 5:30 regardless of when she goes to bed, so this might be the solution. Wish us luck. Please.

And then we got six inches of snow.

Winner

Entering contests runs in the family. I've entered my fair share and in the past year, I have won several.

Two Christmases ago, I won a $100 Peapod gift card (grocery delivery service). I used it to stock up on all beef nitrate free hot dogs, laundry detergent, ziploc bags, and much more. It was awesome.

This past Christmas, I won the Minions movie from Boston Parents Paper. I haven't actually seen it, but from what I've heard driving in the van, it seems pretty funny.

Most recently, I won a shipment of specialty cheeses from Cabot. It was supposed to be a selection of cheese, chocolate, and berries, but I only ever got the cheese. We either need to have a cheese tasting party or I should donate it to the local food pantry because the kids are picky about cheese and really only like yellow cheese and Preston can't have dairy. I do like the cheese slicer and the cheese board, though. And the cheddar shaker cheese is really good on popcorn.

UPDATE 3/28/16: Just as we were walking out the door to go to VA last week, a box of strawberries showed up. They were giant and delicious. I'm expecting chocolate any day. Also, the cheese slicer broke.

 I am pretty disappointed that I didn't win the new GM or Buick vehicle (up to $80,000) that I entered to win last year, and I have yet to win a large denomination gift card from doing the surveys on my receipts, but I will keep doing it, because winning is fun, which I why I voted for Trump. I would like to win so much I have a headache from all the winning. Wouldn't you?

Trip to Utah

We went to Utah last week since Lauren had the week off and it had been a while since we had been and most of Preston's family had not met Grace. It was nonstop fun and excitement. The only thing that would have made it better was if we could have hung with the Woods. And if we had unlimited funds to spend in the BYU Store. 

Now the pictures. Grace was super adorable the whole time, so most of them are of her.

The view from our guest room.

On Monday we went to the Dinosaur Museum...

...and the Curiosity Museum, where Grace stole the show at the water table.

On Tuesday, Preston and the kids went skiing.

Grace and I hung out in the lodge.

I was bad and took this picture while I was driving.

On Thursday, we went to the Provo City Center Temple and BYU.

I got a parfait for Grace, then Lauren decided she wanted that instead of ice cream. She changed her mind pretty quick when she saw the boys with the ice cream cones. 

Thing 1.

Thing 2.

On Friday, we went to Texas Roadhouse, where Grace decided that Aunt Kelli's chicken looked pretty appetizing.

You lookin at me?

On Saturday, I tried out Paul's hoverboard. I don't want one. Andrew also got to see some big trucks.

Here's some other photos from the week.

The kids did well flying, but as they say, there's no place like home.