Valentines

Valentine's Day was so much fun! Tenley made cupcakes (her favorite thing ever to make!) and we had a nice dinner at the Simmons. Love my cute Valentines!

The Book of Mormon

I spent the last 30 days reading The Book of Mormon all the way through. I've read it several times before but never that quickly and it was the most amazing experience. Since I was reading it as quickly as I would if I were reading a book for book club, the characters and story line all melded together and made more sense to me than they had before. I felt like I understood each prophet on a more personable level and all the wars that they went through made me more sad than I think they ever had before. I love The Book of Mormon. My testimony that it is a true book and was translated by Joseph Smith in 1829 so we can have the teachings of those prophets in our day is more sure than ever. I know the Lord lives and loves us. I know as we read and study The Book of Mormon we will gain insight and receive blessings for our own lives. I have been happier, more patient, and more full of love this past month and I know it's because of the scriptures. I'm truly grateful for The Book of Mormon and a loving Heavenly Father and for my family. I feel overwhelming blessed.

Some of my favorite verses:

Matinee Movies

The movie theater here in town does a Winter and a Summer matinee movie series for kids. It costs $5 for 8 tickets and they play a different movie each weekend for 6 weeks or so. It's a fun program that we enjoy. We missed the first two weekends of the winter series but we went today to see The Peanuts Movie. We hadn't seen it yet and it was so cute! The kids loved it! And Ryder did pretty well the whole time thankfully. 

Valentine Parties

I got to organize Kade's Valentine Party at school today. We decorated cupcakes, played bingo, made heart caterpillars, and flew paper heart airplanes. It was a blast! I loved watching the kids' excitement as they enjoy the party together. It was especially fun to see Kade and his best buddy Tanner have fun together.

My Boys

Ryder's recent increase in his mobility has been changing my life a bit! I can't let him out of my sight for very long at all anymore. He gets into anything he can get to! I love that he's so curious but I'm definitely cleaning up a lot more messes now. 

Today was Kade's 100th day in school! They had fun counting out 100 of different things. Tonight when I went through his backpack I found an awesome picture that he drew of himself at 100 years old. He drew lots of wrinkles, added some glasses, and gave himself short legs. Haha.

And I'm so grateful for Brad. He's always taking time to educate the kids. We always have great conversations at the table and I feel so blessed that we're able to have lunch and dinner at the table together every day. Those are my favorite moments of the day. I hope I never take them for granted.

Spring Weather

It was 50 degrees and sunny today and felt like spring! The kids and I got out to enjoy it at the park. I hope this weather sticks around!

Valentines Decor

I'm learning that Telney is a very festive girl. She really look forward to holidays and she loves decorating the house for them. She's been begging me to decorate for Valentines Day for a while now and we finally put a few things up together today.

 When Kade got home from school he made Tenley a sweet Valentine Card that said "I love you because you are my sister." It was so sweet! 

Cemeteries, Ice Sculptures

We left Boise today but stopped by to see my Mother-in-laws grave on the way out of town. It was a beautiful sunny morning and it was very peaceful at the cemetery. We enjoyed sharing memories of her with our kids.

We also enjoyed a nice stop in McCall. Every year they have a winter carnival and many of the businesses around town create ice sculptures. The carnival ended yesterday but we were still able to see all of the sculptures and they were pretty cool! We ended up by the lake and Brad told the kids all about the legend of the lake monster. Kade was very interested. Then we walked to a yummy little sandwich shop for lunch. It was so much fun!

This was Tenley's favorite sculpture!

Crawling, Family Super Bowl Parties

Ryder finally started crawling this weekend!! I was so excited! And he's been loving all the new places he can get to now. Hopefully walking won't be far behind. I gained a new appreciation for Brad today as well. Since my calling in church is as the primary pianist, Brad takes care of Ryder the last two hours of church and I learned today how hard that is! He's a busy boy and when he's tired he's even more restless. Brad is so sweet to take care of Ryder without complaint. I appreciate him so much!

We've really been enjoying time with family here in Boise and staying at Bryan and Amy's house. And the kids absolutely love being with cousins. They are always the happiest when they get to be with cousins. The time we get to spend with extended family is precious. We were able to get together with two of Brad's brothers, their families, and Dad and Judy today for a Super Bowl party. It was a lot of fun and something we haven't been able to do for a long time.

The Piano Guys

Brad took me to The Piano Guys concert tonight in Boise and it was amazing! I've been looking forward to this night for a while now and it did not disappoint. We enjoyed the concert with Brad's Dad, his brothers Bryan and Jared and their wives. My awesome niece and nephew Christina and Jesse took care of our kids so we could go. It was such a fun night! I love The Piano Guys music and what they stand for. They inspire me. It was really fun to see Jon Scmidt play some songs that I heard him perform years ago at concerts in Utah. They said one thing at the end that stayed with me; "We don't believe in coincidences and that things happen for no reason. There are no coincidences." It just reminded me that God is truly aware of us and our wants and our needs. I know He will put people and situations in our lives that will help us achieve the most happiness possible on our journey. 

Old Treasures

Brad was going through some of his old things today and he found an old Davey Crocket hat that he got when he was 12. Kade thought it was pretty sweet and wore it around the house the rest of the day until he accidentally tore part of the tail off. He felt so bad about that but he still looked pretty cute white it on!

Reading and Math

Kade really enjoys going to school and learning. His favorite part of school is definitely recess, but he enjoys the classroom work as well. He's become such a fast reader! He read a few books for Ryder today, and tonight I had him read our bedtime book because my throat is hurting. He read Green Eggs and Ham as quickly as I would have and with voice inflections on top of that! I loved hearing him read.

His 100th day of school is coming up and he was asked to bring 100 of something. He chose 100 pretzels. He counted them all out by himself. It's fun to see him be so independent. But I'm also so grateful that he'll still let me give him a hug and a kiss in front of all of his classmates when I drop him off for school. I feel like I have the best of both worlds!

Earlier this week I was reading in my room and Kade set up a spot for him to read as well! His favorite books right now are his Avenger short stories book and anything from the Henry and Mudge series.

Ryder Ricks

We celebrated Ryder's first birthday today. I can't believe we've had this sweet boy with us for a year now. Our life was so different a year ago and Ryder has remained a sweet, calm, and happy boy through all of the changes, long road trips, and new places. We all love him so much and can't imagine our lives without him. I got emotional tonight looking back at all the pictures and videos from the past year. All the cold medicine I'm taking right now could have something to do with that though... But we really are truly grateful for Ryder. 

He did have his one year check up today and is almost up to 18 pounds now (he's one of our smaller children), and he had to get shots. AND we found out that he has a double ear infection. Poor guy! But he was still happy and giggly at his little party tonight! The Simmons came over to celebrate with us and gave him a cute remote control dog. He opened up a lot of cool new books from Grandpa and Grandma Woodruff, and some money from Grandpa Hobson and Grandma Judy. He seemed pretty full by the time we had cake and ice cream but he still took a few bites. 

I've got to thank Tenley for all her help with the party today. She is all girl! She loved decorating the house for the party and making all the food. I love that I have such a great helper! She helped make Ryder's birthday awesome!

We're more about how a cake tastes than how it looks around here...

Daily Messages

A few years ago I signed up to receive short inspirational quotes in my email on lds.org and I love getting them. They always help to give me an added boost of the spirit. And sometimes the quotes are just what I need to hear, or what I've been seeking to learn and understand. Today's messages really touched me. I'm so grateful for the hard times in life that make us better and stronger people and for a Savior that is there to help and comfort us at all times.

Twins

Kade and Tenley look a lot a like. I often get comments that they could be twins. And right now with them both missing the same tooth they do look like twins to me!